Andrew Bocking, the executive VP of the BBM messaging service, has left BlackBerry, the company confirmed to Mobile World Live.

BBM will now fall under the Global Enterprise Solutions division, led by John Sims, who has “extensive experience in mobile messaging”, according to the company.

The BBM organisation will continue to focus on messaging, as well as “new areas of strength such as mobile marketing, community-building and enterprise messaging”.

BlackBerry announced in September 2013 that it would focus on the enterprise and prosumer markets, with no mention of BBM, prompting rumours that it could be sold or spun out.

However, the ailing Canadian vendor continued to drive BBM usage by launching the app for iOS and Android in October, seeing 20 million downloads in the first week of availability to reach 80 million monthly active users.

BlackBerry subsequently struck deals to preinstall BBM on devices from LG Electronics, as well as a number of tier-three vendors and distributors focused on emerging markets.

In December, BlackBerry talked up the success of its BBM app in enterprise, saying it was used in “more than 85 per cent of BlackBerry Enterprise Server-enabled organisations running BlackBerry smartphones”.

Speaking at the time, Bocking said although BBM started organically among business users, organisations are now choosing to use the service “to improve communications and collaboration”.

He also touted the fact that BlackBerry provides a means to track and log BBM communications, allowing organisations in regulated industries to meet compliance requirements.