Over ten million people worldwide downloaded the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) application for Android and Apple on Tuesday, but African smart device users who don’t have access to the Samsung Apps store have to wait until Thursday evening to get the app.

Representatives of BlackBerry have told ITWeb Africa that electronics maker Samsung has a “three-day time-to-market advantage” with regard to rolling out the Android and Apple BBM app in sub-Saharan Africa, despite the app’s global launch on Tuesday.

This means that African owners of non-Samsung Android smart devices or Apple iOS smartphones or tablets have to wait until until 20h00 on 24 October 2013 before they can access BBM in the Google Play market or Apple’s App Store.

BlackBerry explained to ITWeb Africa that the reason for Samsung’s three day advantage in sub-Saharan Africa is that “Samsung Africa has been a very proactive partner and has invested significantly in promoting BBM to its customers in Africa.”

The move by BlackBerry to introduce a Samsung-only launch of BBM in Africa comes as Samsung has come to dominate the African smartphone landscape, with a 52.1% share of this market on the continent according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

But amid the global launch of the BBM Android and Apple apps, some non-Samsung smart device users in Africa have resorted to accessing US app market accounts to download the popular instant messaging app.

Meanwhile, other African smart device owners, who either don’t have the Samsung Apps store or aren’t aware of it, have communicated their frustrations on social media.

Twitter user Emmeline Heesen (@EmmelineHeesen) tweeted on Wednesday, “@BBM I want to know why BBM for Android is not available in South Africa and when it will be available.”

Another Twitter user Amelia Enslin (@aaenslin) also tweeted her confusion: “Is bbm for ios available in south africa....i cant seem to download it? “

It’s not the first time that confusion and even controversy has courted BBM this year.

BlackBerry’s global launch of its BBM app for Android and iOs on Tuesday came after the Canadian smartphone maker suspended what was supposed to be the official launch of the app in September.

The suspension of the launch came after a leaked version of the Android version of the app was released.

Apart from its BBM woes, BlackBerry also has market share and financial challenges.

According to the IDC, BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market is predicted to be at 2.7% for 2013 reaching just 1.7% in 2017. This signals a sharp decline for the smartphone maker, which previously held 20% of the global smartphone market in 2009, according to the IDC and Gartner.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry this year also reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion, while revenue fell 45% from a year earlier to $1.6 billion.

BlackBerry is in talks to sell its business, with companies such as Google and even Cisco reportedly being interested.