As part of my job as a Product Manager here at Research In Motion (RIM), I make sure to spend time reading through user feedback so that this feedback can be utilized in future application versions. As part of our continuous effort to both improve product quality and listen to what BlackBerry® smartphone users have to say, RIM has launched a new Test Center category in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

To kick off the Test Center category we have released eBay® v1.0 and MySpace® v2.0 for BlackBerry smartphones as beta applications. We are excited to use the reviews section for each of the applications launched in the Test Center category to collect user feedback so we can help ensure future application releases reflect the features and changes users are looking for.

To submit a review, visit the “My World” section of the BlackBerry App World application via your BlackBerry smartphone. Click the link below for more information on the two apps now available in the Test Center category.

eBay v1.0 features:

• Receive near real-time home screen notifications for bids
• Set Calendar reminders and receive email notifications for auction end dates
• PayPal® compatibility

Download eBay v1.0 via BlackBerry App World

MySpace v2.0 features:

• BlackBerry push notifications for new MySpace Messages, Friend Requests and Profile Comments
• MySpace Blogs: you can Post a new Blog, Edit an existing Blog and View others Blogs
• BlackBerry Message List integration: you can view new MySpace notifications or create new MySpace Messages from your BlackBerry Message List
• Custom Moods: you can customize your MySpace Mood

Download MySpace v2.0 via BlackBerry App World

eBay is a trademark of eBay Inc. MySpace is a trademark of MySpace, Inc. PayPal is a trademark of PayPal, Inc.

The second most important announcement for South Africa after FIFA World Cup 2010

In the rest of the world (outside Canada and the U.S.), soccer seems to be an incredibly popular sport. As a North American, I don’t understand any game played without a large amount of protective gear and cheerleaders, so you’ll have to excuse me for my ignorance. David Beckham? He plays soccer, right? He’s married to Posh Spice. That’s about all I know.

ANYWAY – South Africa is hosting the FIFA World Cup 2010 in 9 host cities, and one great way to keep track of how your team is doing is by using ScoreMobile – available today in BlackBerry App World™!

“But Alex, BlackBerry App World isn’t available in South Africa.” SURPRISE – it is available now! Visit http://worldwide.blackberry.com/za/appworld today to download BlackBerry App World to your BlackBerry smartphone.

We’re really happy to announce another launch and we’ll continue to bring BlackBerry App World to every country where BlackBerry smartphones are available.

Here at RIM, I work for the BlackBerry® Platform Product Management team.  We’re the product managers for the Java® and web developer tools that allow anyone to develop applications for BlackBerry® smartphones. My fellow product manager, Mario, manages our BlackBerry web signals platform which allows developers to push content updates to BlackBerry smartphones.

Last week, I was in Ottawa working on BlackBerry App World™ planning, and to make travel easier, I took advantage of Air Canada’s latest web signal service which combines web check-in with an Electronic Boarding Pass.

What’s so great about getting an Electronic Boarding Pass via BlackBerry web signals? I’ll skip the marketing messages and cut right to the chase:  even though I’m a seasoned traveler, I can never remember my flight info.  The Air Canada web signal service takes care of this for me with one-click access to my flight info from my BlackBerry smartphone! Plus, you can use the same email address for the Air Canada web signal service that you use to register for Flight Notifications on the web.  This way, you’ll see updates when you select the Air Canada web signal icon on your BlackBerry smartphone.  In addition, there’s no paper boarding cards to lose and I can bypass line-ups at check-in (if you’ve ever flown out of Toronto’s Pearson on a Monday morning, then you know what I’m talking about).

Here’s how you can take advantage of the Air Canada web signal service:

First, you need to make sure you’re already subscribed to the service.  Just visit this Air Canada web signal service page for instructions on how to sign up!

Next, when I was ready to check in, I visited http://www.aircanada.com and selected ‘web check-in’.  I entered the usual info – my name and Aeroplan number – and was then prompted to select how I wanted to check-in. I selected the option to ‘receive my Electronic Boarding Pass via web signal’.

Next, after a couple more quick questions about seating and baggage and in a couple short minutes, I had an Air Canada web signal update on my BlackBerry smartphone with my boarding pass!

Selecting the Air Canada web signal icon brings up all of my available boarding passes.

When I’m ready to check in – the gate agent scans the displayed barcode on my BlackBerry smartphone!

Check out the BlackBerry web signal service from Air Canada the next time you’re flying with them – and check out our other BlackBerry web signal applications available today!

For more info on Air Canada Flight Notifications, visit:
http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/traveller/mobile/notification.html
For more info on the Air Canada web signal, visit:
http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/traveller/mobile/blackberry.html

Probably the biggest one is that you can easily share photos with friends or your online communities. After you’ve taken your photo, you can start sharing it within two clicks.

Here’s how:

After taking your photo, select the “send as” icon on the screen.  If you can’t find it, you can also select “send as” from the menu.  You can find the menu by pressing the menu key – this is the key with the “BB” on it.

Once you have selected the “send as” options, you can select where you want the photo to go.

Most devices have email, Messenger Contact (BlackBerry Messenger) and MMS (also known as picture SMS).  You can also send photos to Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, GoogleTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger.

Try sharing photos from your device today by downloading one of the social networking and instant messaging applications.