No one wants to be on a waiting list, especially if millions of other names are ahead of yours. Android and iOS users who want to sign up for a BlackBerry Messaging account but are on the waiting list have relief on the way soon.

They can jump the queue by following these tips suggested by tech Web site CNET. Here are the steps.

  • Download the app on your Android or iOS phone.
  • Open the app, enter email address then click Next
  • Force-close the app. For iOS phones, it is done by double-clicking the home button and swiping the app away. For Android phones, enter the multitasking menu and likewise swipe the app away or go to Settings, Apps, BBM, and then click Force Close.
  • Relaunching the app providers the Android or iOS phone user the power to create an account that will assign a unique PIN.
  • Start inviting friends.

Here's a video tutorial on the bypass technique from another site.

YouTube/AdGeek Store

The method listed above was effective for some CNET writers, but be warned that BlackBerry could provide a fix any time and make you go back to the queue.

However, given BlackBerry's record of slowness in reacting to market developments, chances are the fix won't be available tomorrow. After all, the announcement of the release of the BBM app for iOS and Android took them one month to fix from the time they suddenly withdrew the app close to its launch date.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based phonemaker, after all, has acquired a reputation - or rather gained notoriety - for bad timing, wrote Techcrunch, which resulted in BlackBerry, previously known as Research in Motion (maybe, slow motion) being "too late to the mobile party again and again."

It cited BlackBerry's stubbornness in sticking to the old QWERTY keyboard that caused its hardware out of touch and left the door open for Android and iOS to pick up and advance where BlackBerry failed.

The last straw, it seems, is the next-gen platform called BlackBerry 10 that landed when majority of the BlackBerry user had already abandoned the company and left for other phones using iOS or Android. That, in turn, led to millions of unsold BB10 devices and BlackBerry's almost $1 million writeoff, expected to culminate in the sale of BlackBerry to the buyer, not only with deep pockets but also faster moves to catch up with the feverish pace of developments in the IT industry.