BlackBerry makes it possible for Messenger users to make PayPal payments within a chat conversation. This makes BBM one of the first ‘western’ messaging services to support payments within chats.
BlackBerry is going to test the service in its home country of Canada. In this trial it will be possible to transfer money to a contact person via a button within BBM, for example during a joint visit to a restaurant, sharing the purchase amount of a gift or other occasion where money has to be transferred. BlackBerry works together with PayPal for this.
This makes BBM one of the first messaging services made in the western world to support payments. The Chinese Wechat already has support for payments via its own service Weixin Payments, but services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Hangouts do not.
BlackBerry promises that the service will become available in more countries “soon” and eventually be available worldwide. When that will be is currently unknown.