PayPal launches its mobile app on BlackBerry

PayPal is now available on all major mobile platforms after finally rolling out its app to BlackBerry today.

The app will be available on the BlackBerry Q10, BlackBerry Z10, and BlackBerry’s new Classic smartphone. It will do all the things it does for the other platforms it services. BlackBerry users in the U.S., U.K., and Australia can expect to send and receive money, manage account activity, check-in to pay at physical stores, and redeem offers from local merchants.

But the big question about this announcement is, why now? PayPal rolled out an app to Amazon’s Fire Phone before considering BlackBerry.

We’ve reached out to PayPal for some perspective here, but in the meantime, here’s some speculation. Since PayPal will be splitting off from eBay this year, it stands to reason that the company would want to refine and consolidate its products. It’s also possible that PayPal is aiming to be the most ubiquitous mobile payment option out there — pushing itself into the crevices that Apple Pay and other competitors don’t reach.

Or maybe the folks at PayPal suddenly remembered that BlackBerry exists.

Update: As I suspected, PayPal is aiming to be everywhere. In a statement via email PayPal said:

“We’re rolling it out now because we want to be wherever our customers are. So, whether you’re using Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Fire OS or BlackBerry, you’ll be able to experience an easier and more secure way to shop and pay with the PayPal app. As the blog post mentions, with the addition of BlackBerry, people can use the PayPal app on all of the major mobile platforms including: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Fire OS and now BlackBerry.”