Research in Motion pulling Kik Messenger from BlackBerry App World appears to have been a much bigger deal than we had initially thought. Not two weeks ago, RIM pulled Kik Messenger from BlackBerry App World vaguely stating that they became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service. RIM, this past Friday, however, disabled all “Push” access to existing Kik users and has removed Kik access to the BlackBerry Software Development Kit and Signing Keys, essentially disabling all future Kik Messenger development on the the BlackBerry platform.
RIM released this official statement as to why they seem to have severed their relationship with Kik.
RIM became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service. Following discussions with Kik, the app was removed from BlackBerry App World on November 12. Upon further investigation, RIM concluded that Kik had breached contractual obligations. Based on the broad scope and seriousness of the issues and concerns, RIM terminated its agreements with Kik and withdrew RIM’s support for Kik’s service.
It doesn’t appear that Kik Messenger is coming back to the BlackBerry any time soon…
[Via BGR]