[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Inside BlackBerry® Blog readers! We’ve got a new post for you from Sonia, announcing yet another great app for #TeamBlackBerry…read on for more! – Ed.

The BBM™ Music app is finally here, and will be available for downloading within the next 24 hours in Canada, the United States and Australia (more regions will be launching shortly, so stay tuned).

First, let’s clarify one misconception: with a BBM Music Premium subscription, you can access far more than 50 songs. To start your BBM Music profile, you can choose up to 50 songs from the millions in our catalog. But, that’s just the beginning! Add more music to your library by adding friends and get access to your BBM friends’ music profile songs. The more BBM friends with BBM Music Premium subscriptions you have, the more songs you can share! And the sharing goes both ways. Your BBM friends with BBM Music Premium subscriptions will have access to your profile music too, and can access it anytime.

So, let’s say you have 10 BBM friends with BBM Music subscriptions, and they each have 50 songs in their music profiles. From those friends alone, plus the 50 songs you downloaded to start your profile, you could have 550 songs in no time, right on your BlackBerry® smartphone!

Now, how about a quick refresh on the beta release: BBM Music is a BBM-connected social music service that allows BBM and BlackBerry smartphone users to discover, play and grow their music collections together. In other words, BBM Music helps you connect with your friends around music on a whole new level.

Turn your friend list into a playlist

With BBM Music, you can grow and keep your music selection fresh by swapping songs every month and by inviting friends to gain access to your music. And remember, when you invite friends to BBM Music, you get access to their musical playlist (which means you get access to more songs); you can build new playlists that include your songs and their songs, you can comment on your friends’ music and you can start a chat with any of your BBM friends from within the BBM Music app in real time. All of this music activity is automatically posted to the homescreen timeline so that you can keep up with friends without missing a beat (literally)!

What’s more, you can cache your BBM music (or save your music to your microSD card) for easy offline listening. Choose the full track experience via the Premium Subscription version or the Free Subscription version – here’s what those options include:

• PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION: The Premium ‘full track’ BBM Music experience is available for a monthly subscription of $4.99 USD ($4.99 CDN and $5.99 AUD). The Premium version will feature a free Premium trial offer.
• Free Premium trial offer*: With the free Premium trial offer, you can use all the features of a Premium subscription for a limited time. Get up to 2 months* free in US and Canada, and one month free in Australia.
• FREE SUBSCRIPTION: There will also be a Free subscription to the service that delivers the same social experience as the Premium subscription, but with 30 second song previews versus full song tracks. After your Free Premium trial offer period ends, you can opt to continue using BBM Music without a paid subscription by using this Free subscription. You can upgrade from a Free subscription to a Premium subscription at any time.

What BBM Music Beta users like most

We’ve received tons of great feedback and suggestions from our beta participants – 8 out of 10 said they would recommend this service to a friend. Sharing songs with others is one of the most popular features, as is ease of use. Here’s what some of BBM Music users have to say:

“This app is by far the best music app out there… I love the way we can share music with friends!”

“I like the feature of sharing your music with your friends.”

Based on feedback from Beta users we have added a “stop” button alongside the “pause” button, enhanced music discovery by presenting sorting options in all music and contacts screens and improved conversation around music by adding an external notification icon when you receive a comment about your BBM Music. We thank you for your feedback!

Download BBM Music today

I have admittedly become addicted to the beta version of BBM Music, and I’m very excited for this to officially launch. I’ve quickly amassed well over 1,800 songs (a combination of my own song downloads and my friends’), and I have hours’ worth of music that I’ve sorted into Indie, Jazz and Chill playlists, among others. Even my kids have their own playlists (which were handy on the beach this summer), and I’m constantly checking in for new music and updates from BBM friends. In short, I think you’re going to like it.

Download BBM Music today, and stay tuned for more blog posts on BBM Music as the service continues to evolve and becomes available in more regions.

*New BBM Music users only. May not be combined with other offers. Payment information required to receive full trial period. Following trial user placed into automatically renewing monthly subscription plan unless cancelled before end of trial period. Limited time introductory offer may vary by BlackBerry device or carrier. Additional charges may apply. Subject to change. See us.blackberry.com/legal/bbmmusic.jsp for complete details and restrictions.

Hey Inside BlackBerry Blog readers! We’ve got a great guest post here from Sonia, who’s eager to tell you about a new update to a particular social networking app…read on! – Ed.

Today we’re releasing BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) v6.0.1, a new version that is designed to make it easier than ever to discover a sample of BBM-connected apps from within BBM. This is great news for developers who leverage the BBM Social Platform because it can make their apps more visible and easier to find. It’s even better news for BBM users who are seeking to discover and share new app experiences with their BBM contacts.

Let’s walk through what’s new in BBM v6.0.1.

BBM 6.0.1 Key Features:

• Explore BBM-connected Apps

BBM users will now be able to pull up “Explore BBM-connected Apps” from a menu in the BBM Contacts screen. This action is designed to automate a BlackBerry App World™ storefront search for “BBM” by redirecting users to a list of up to 25 of the most popular BBM-connected apps available.



• Sharing App content with your BBM Contacts is easier

Many BBM users have told us that they love sharing app content with their BBM friends who use the same app, but they also wanted to share content with their BBM friends who don’t have the app. BBM v6.0.1 is designed so that you can now share app-specific content with your BBM contacts regardless of whether your contact has the app installed.

For example, foursquare users may want to share a tip or badge they’ve recently earned, or Huffington Post users may want to share a breaking news story with their BBM contacts. Your friends or contacts will also be prompted to download the BBM-connected app if they don’t have it installed.

• Include BBM v5.0 users in application invites

Now you can include even more friends in the fun! You can now invite BBM v5.0 & BBM v6.0 contacts to join in the fun and share BBM-connected app experiences. Your BBM v5.0 contacts will be prompted to download BBM v6.0 in order to access BBM-connected apps. For users new to BBM v6.0 and BBM-connected apps, here’s a quick rundown of some benefits to upgrading (make sure to read our BBM 6: Apps Made Social blog post for more information).

• Inviting BBM friends to experience your favorite apps
• Chatting with BBM contacts from inside BBM-connected apps
• Discovering apps and updates through friends by browsing their recent profile updates of their contacts profile

You can download the new BBM update from your BlackBerry smartphone here. I look forward to reading your comments on the newest version of BBM! Let us know what you’re sharing with friends and family.

The Research In Motion® (RIM®) Developer Relations team recently hosted a BBM™ Hackathon event in NYC. Developers were invited to apply for a chance to participate in the event, getting one-on-one time with BlackBerry® platform experts and network with other developers while working on integrating social elements into apps using the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM) APIs.

Attendees told us that they found the direct contact with our social platform experts to be invaluable – and we liked hearing that so much that we’ve decided to host more of these hackathon events across the globe in the coming weeks.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

The BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 smartphones have gotten great buzz since we first announced the two BlackBerry® 7 smartphones with a BlackBerry Bold touch at the BlackBerry World™ conference in May. Members of the media and #TeamBlackBerry certainly enjoyed test-driving them at our #BB7FanNight event in Toronto. (FYI: We’ve gathered many BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 reviews from across the web for your quick reference.) Now that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are making their way to your local carriers and retail locations, we thought it would be a good time for the BlackBerry Bold Product Managers Michael and Jason to share five things you need to know about the new BlackBerry Bold touch smartphones.

1. The new touch BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones combine design style with substance

Our design goal for the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones was to deliver a stunning design that integrates the BlackBerry Bold family’s iconic QWERTY keypad with a brilliant, high resolution capacitive touch screen. Great care, time and precision went into designing and creating the keypad on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones; it was meticulously refined, sculpted and positioned to deliver the utmost in precision functionality to make typing accurate, simple and fast. In fact, even though the keypad on these two smartphones may look similar to that of the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9000 smartphone, it actually has 5% more surface area. Achieving such an improved typing experience – on the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones yet – is something we know BlackBerry customers will appreciate (and is a testament to our design team’s commitment to delivering continuous improvements to what matters most to our customers).

In terms of the overall design, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones were built in the tradition of the BlackBerry Bold line of smartphones, with purposeful detailing plus premium materials and finish. When you first hold the device in your hand, we think you will quickly realize how great it feels. We’ve highlighted some of our favorite design elements below:

• Brushed stainless steel frame: the elegantly brushed stainless steel frame extending around the exterior adds to the visual appeal of both Blackberry Bold smartphones, giving them what we feel is a timeless and classic look. Beyond aesthetics, the stainless steel frame adds reliable durability while seamlessly integrating important functions like the convenience and volume keys.
• “Aerospace composite” battery door: distinct to the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones, the “aerospace composite” battery door is incredibly lightweight and durable. It’s made of the same composite material that’s used to construct next-generation airplanes, racecars, and high-tech sports equipment. The cool factor is high to be sure, but more importantly, this composite construction actually helps optimize antennas, radios, and other device technology for highly reliable connectivity.
• Ultra-thin design: When we looked at the amount of time people have a device in hand, it became a priority for us to make the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones ever at 10.5mm. For BlackBerry smartphone users, this means a lightweight, sleek & slim device that fits comfortably in the palm of their hand, while maintaining uncompromised performance.

2. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930: The most powerful guts ever in a BlackBerry smartphone

We wanted to match the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones’ distinctive design with powerful hardware to deliver a best-in-class BlackBerry Bold smartphone experience. With a 1.2 GHz processor, 8GB of onboard memory with the option to expand (using up to a 32GB media card), and high-speed CDMA or HSPA+ world phone connectivity, these models have the most powerful ‘guts’ ever in a BlackBerry smartphone, helping you get more things done even faster. Here are a few features we’d like to speak to in more detail.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are the first BlackBerry smartphones to feature brilliant 2.8” 640×480 high-resolution touch screens, which deliver crisp, clear images and text at 287 pixels per inch, in full 24-bit color. Powered by the BlackBerry 7 OS and Liquid Graphics™ technology, these screens provide a truly responsive and versatile touch experience, so you can browse the web, interact on social sites, read and respond to emails, and view high resolution videos and photos. If you’d like to learn more about the evolution of the touch experience in BlackBerry 7, check out Sangita and Troy’s post, which tackles the subject in more detail.

In addition to hi-speed CDMA or HSPA+ cellular connectivity, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones also feature dual-band Wi-Fi® connectivity (2.4GHz and 5GHz). Reliable Wi-Fi connectivity is important for pulling down large amounts of data quickly without a hit to your data plan, and Dual band Wi-Fi connectivity means better connectivity and faster performance at the office, coffee shop, airport, or at home.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are the first BlackBerry smartphones to feature Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC is a technology that allows BlackBerry smartphone users to just tap to connect, get information, and link up with other supported NFC devices or authentic BlackBerry accessories. For more information about what NFC means for BlackBerry smartphone users, please watch this interview with Andrew Bocking, VP of Handheld Software Product Management.

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

3. The new BlackBerry 7 OS delivers better performance, usability and voice-activated Universal search

The powerful hardware in the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones have been paired with the new and powerful BlackBerry 7 OS, which offers a variety of performance and usability enhancements, such as Liquid Graphics and the next generation BlackBerry web browser. While BlackBerry 7 Product Manager Annu is planning on providing a detailed blog post on BlackBerry 7, we thought we’d share one of our favorite features: voice-activated Universal Search.

With voice-activated Universal Search, the powerful on-device search functionality that premiered in the BlackBerry 6® OS has gone hands free. Using advanced speech-to-text translation, you can now search for files, emails, contacts, music, and more—all without typing a thing. Voice-activated Universal Search also combs the web and BlackBerry applications for the information you need. For example, I often use Universal Search to find an address, which automatically brings up the BlackBerry® Maps location information. Very cool!

4. The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones improve social collaboration

As we said before, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones’ full QWERTY keypad offer an efficient and speedy typing experience, but it’s not just for emails. The new BlackBerry Bold smartphones feature the latest versions of our social media applications, including Social Feeds, Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones, Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones, and the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) 6. This suite of apps makes it easy for BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphone owners to quickly connect with friends, family, and co-workers.

We’re most excited about the potential of BBM 6 for BlackBerry Bold smartphone users, because of “BBM-connected” apps. BBM 6 allows for 3rd-party applications to incorporate your favorite aspects of BBM into their apps, from status updates and sharing to BBM chats. The video below shows how popular social application Foursquare takes advantage of BBM 6, but that doesn’t mean that social on the new BlackBerry Bold smartphones is only about fun and games. Don’t believe me? Check out this post on how to use BlackBerry Messenger 6 for business.

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

5. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones “Balance” the needs of enterprise and end users

In addition a full QWERTY keypad, dual-band Wi-Fi and BBM 6, the new BlackBerry Bold smartphones offer a variety of features that reinforce the BlackBerry Bold family’s heritage as the ultimate enterprise device for business people on the go. Two of our favorites are BlackBerry® Balance™ technology and the Documents To Go® Premium app.

BlackBerry Balance is a new technology in BlackBerry 7 that ensures your work life and private life never mix—so you can enjoy the fullest mobile experience on just one device. When you’re at work, BlackBerry Balance technology allows you to focus on getting tasks done while securely accessing business information, but it also makes it possible to stay connected via apps like Facebook, Twitter or personal email accounts. This is because BlackBerry Balance technology is designed to works behind the scenes to safeguard against accidentally compromising the security of company content while simultaneously protecting the privacy of your personal content. To learn more about this new technology, check out the BlackBerry Balance product page.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones also come with the full premium version of the Documents To Go app, which is a vital tool for mobile productivity. Documents To Go is a mobile document suite that is designed to allow you to create and edit Microsoft® Word®, Microsoft® Excel®, and Microsoft® PowerPoint® docs, and view PDF docs anywhere, anytime. As someone that travels regularly for work, I can attest that the ability to easily review or edit important work documents has been a lifesaver many times over.

We’re incredibly excited that the next generation of BlackBerry Bold smartphones is now available for BlackBerry smartphone users. For more information on pricing and availability, please contact your local carrier or visit our BlackBerry Bold where to buy page. Make sure to post a comment below and let us know what you think!

It is my extreme pleasure to give you an inside look at the BBM™ Music app Research In Motion (RIM) announced today. Hot on the heels of our BBM 6 launch in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, BBM Music is expected to be available later this year for a monthly subscription fee of $4.99 USD, plus tax (to sign up to get more details later on availability and free trial in your country, please visit www.blackberry.com/bbmmusic).

BBM Music is a BBM-connected social music service that allows BlackBerry® smartphone users to share and discover music through your BBM Music friends (note: users must also have BBM 6 installed). Once you have created a BBM Music sharing friendship with a BBM contact, you can make use of all that BBM Music has to offer (like other BBM-connected apps, BBM Music was built using the same BBM SDKs extended to the BlackBerry developer community. To see a list of other great BBM-connected apps, check out our BBM 6: Apps Made Social post).

BBM Music has been designed to allow you to:

• Build your music profile from a Catalog of millions of tracks (with more to be added over the coming weeks)
• Invite friends to BBM Music from your BBM contacts and gain access to their music and share your music (once they subscribe or join the free trial)
• Create playlists from your BBM Music songs plus your friends’ songs
• Share playlists or single songs with BBM Music friends
• Follow your friends’ BBM Music activity via timelines and comments, or start up a BBM chat about your favorite bands
• Cache music for easy offline listening
• Seamless integration with other BlackBerry music services

Let’s dig deeper into how BBM Music works and why it might become the must-have app for audiophiles and the über-social.

More friends = more music

What if every new friend came with a new favorite song? With BBM Music, they could, as long as they have agreed to share their music with you! Each BBM Music user can create a profile of up to 50 songs from the millions of tracks available in the BBM Music Catalog. In addition to those 50 songs in your profile, the more BBM Music friends you have, the more songs you can add and enjoy! In other words, your BBM Music friend’s music library = your music library.

BBM Music paid subscribers will get to discover, select and share full audio tracks. This includes not only the tracks in your 50-song profile, but also all the music in your BBM Music friends’ profiles, too (if they are paid subscribers or using the trial version).

A great way to stay up on what your BBM Music friends are listening to is by viewing the activity timeline on the Home tab. From there, you can see what playlists your BBM Music friends are creating, what songs they’ve added to their profiles, and the comments friends are posting on your track selections (BTW: My coworkers at RIM seem to really enjoy my addiction to indie rock =D).

From the Me tab, you can see your own BBM Music profile, including your 50-tracks and playlists, as well as the comments you’ve posted. You can also quickly see how many listens your music selections have received from your BBM Music friends, or shuffle your track list.

The Friends tab is the place to go to see your BBM Music friends and discover what they’re listening to. You can view specific friend’s playlists and tracks, add them to your own playlists, or post a comment. This is also the place to accept new BBM Music friend requests or send out some requests of your own. Of course, because BBM Music is a BBM-connected app, you can also start a BBM chat with any of your BBM Music friends from this tab.

Even more ways to discover music

If you’re looking to branch out and try something new, the Catalog tab is the place to go to find new tracks to add to your 50-song profile. Besides a general artist, album, song search, the Catalog tab also features preset song suggestions based upon genre, what’s new, top and most recommended tracks, and even picks from the BBM Music team. BBM Music will also tell you if a song of your choosing is in one of your friend’s music profiles, so you can grab it from them and not subtract from your 50-song total.

BBM Music also provides easy access to and from other BlackBerry music services for additional discovery and purchase. For example, if there are songs you love so much you’d like to purchase them, you can select the buy option and purchase directly from the Amazon MP3 Music Store.

No coverage = no problem

BBM Music tracks are cached to your SD card for offline listening, and you can do this for playlists, too, via the Options menu. This is a great feature for commuters, as you can access your music library even when you’re travelling to out of coverage areas. BBM Music also allows for music streaming over Wi-Fi, which together with the cache storage helps save on data usage.

BBM Music strikes a personal chord with me for two reasons. First, mobile music typically tends to be a solitary experience. BBM Music takes that solitary experience and makes it social with the people that matter to me most. Secondly, as life gets busier, I have less time to discover music (sad, but true). BBM Music allows my BBM friends to introduce me to the tunes I’m missing, and vice versa. I think BBM Music could become the “mixtape” for a new generation of mobile music users.

Stay tuned for more blog posts on BBM Music. Also, be sure to head over to the BBM Music page and sign up to be notified once the service launches.

For now, post a comment and let us know what you think (and maybe post a list of your all-time favorite songs or some great new indie bands I should be adding to my profile). I look forward to reading and hearing what you think!

I’m happy to announce three new members to the BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphone family today, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones will be available in Canada this month and via carriers in selected countries around the world beginning in September. For more details on pricing and international availability, make sure to check out our BlackBerry Curve product page or contact your local carrier.

As someone who used the first BlackBerry Curve (the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8300 smartphone), I’m pretty excited to see this popular smartphone family get the powerful BlackBerry 7 infused update. I tapped Product Managers Soniya and Pankaj to tell you the three things you need to know about the new BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. Let’s get started!

1. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones are sleek

People familiar with the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 smartphones and the all-touch BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 smartphones we introduced earlier this month have heard us talk about the sleek and trim design of the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones, and the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are no exception. Our intention was to craft the most stylish BlackBerry Curve smartphones yet, while still maintaining that classic ‘just right’ Curve feel.

We wanted to provide you a balance of ergonomics and style through a combination of key design decisions. For example, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones feature a “Waterfall” design similar to that of the new all-touch BlackBerry Torch, curving both front and back surfaces together for a smooth fit in your hand. We paired this design with a flowing soft-touch band around the circumference of the device, which is both durable and makes the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones comfortable to hold. The soft-touch band also seamlessly integrates functional features like the volume, mute and convenience keys. And we think you’ll love knowing that the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are also some of the lightest BlackBerry smartphones ever, weighing in at only 99 grams –including battery – making portability one less thing you need to worry about.

2. The BlackBerry 7 OS powers the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones

The slim and sleek BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones have been paired with the fast and powerful new BlackBerry 7 OS. We know that BlackBerry Curve smartphone users love to browse the web, and the next-generation BlackBerry Browser is a perfect example of the performance improvements offered by BlackBerry 7. The BlackBerry 7 Browser features a significantly faster web experience, as well as optimized HTML 5 support for things like web-based games and videos. BlackBerry 7 ensures that BlackBerry smartphone users will receive a fast and fluid experience on the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones, with crisp graphics that take advantage of the new devices’ HVGA+ (480×360) display.

BlackBerry 7 also features another improvement upon the BlackBerry 6 OS: voice-activated Universal Search. Voice-activated Universal Search makes it even easier to find the files, messages and contacts stored on your BlackBerry Curve smartphone. You can also use Universal Search to scour the mobile web and supported 3rd party applications to find the information you need – hands free!

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

The BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are also the second series of BlackBerry smartphones to feature Near Field Communications (NFC), after the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones. NFC is a technology that allows BlackBerry smartphone users to just tap to connect, get information, and link up with other NFC-enabled devices or authentic BlackBerry accessories. For more information about what NFC means for BlackBerry smartphone users, please watch this interview with Andrew Bocking, VP of Handheld Software Product Management.

3. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones deeply integrate social

On top of the new functionality provided by the BlackBerry 7 OS, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones feature a variety of applications that make them some of the most social BlackBerry smartphones ever. In addition to the latest versions of Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones and Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones, the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones feature a brand new version of the popular Social Feeds application, which integrates your Facebook®, Twitter® and BBM feeds into one convenient location. Social Feeds 2.0 contains new features such as Universal Search integration, and the ability to create custom views for your social feeds. My favorite new Social Feeds 2.0 feature may just be the ability to flag items for viewing at a later date, which ensures I don’t have to miss out on any important updates or news items when I’m on the go. Social Feeds is a great application for any BlackBerry smartphone user who can’t choose just one social network, or is looking for an easy way to stay connect to everyone and everything that matters to them (stay tuned for a future post covering Social Feeds 2.0 in more depth – Ed.).

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

Of course, our product team’s favorite social application on the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones has to be the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) 6. BBM 6 allows for 3rd party applications (or “BBM-connected” apps) to incorporate your favorite aspects of BBM into their apps, from status updates and sharing to BBM chats. While there are many BBM-connected apps available, my personal favorite has to be foursquare, because I love sharing (and bragging about) new badges I’ve unlocked with friends. Make sure to read the Inside BlackBerry BBM 6: Apps Made Social post to find the BBM connected app that’s the perfect fit for your new BlackBerry Curve smartphone.

The BlackBerry Curve product team is very excited to bring these two new additions to the BlackBerry Curve smartphone family. Please post a comment and tell us what you think of the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones.

Please note that to take full advantage of these BBM connected apps, you must first download BBM 6. The BBM 6 update and BBM connected apps may take up to 24 hours to appear in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront for some users.

Check out some of the new social experiences BBM 6 enables:

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

More BBM status updates via BBM connected apps

BBM 6 allows for more status updates on your BBM profile when you use BBM connected apps. BBM 6 features a custom area within your BBM profile where BBM connected apps can insert status updates (such as high scores, trophies, achievements, etc.). For example, you can choose to let your BBM friends see your recently earned foursquare badges or your highest level in Dark Galaxy.

I personally love this new twist on BBM status updates because it allows me to venture out and share even more of what I do on my BlackBerry smartphone with my friends on BBM.

Share BlackBerry app experiences with your friends via BBM 6

With BBM now integrated into many of your favorite apps, the apps you love just became socially-enabled. That’s right – news apps, games, sports apps, productivity apps and multimedia apps – are experiences you can now share with your BBM friends. Select BBM contacts right from the app to invite them to download the app or join in on the fun. For example, imagine inviting a BBM friend from across town or across the globe to play a game of Backgammon King by Magmic – all without ever leaving the app.

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

Start a BBM chat from within a BBM connected app

Many BBM connected apps allow BlackBerry smartphone users to have a BBM chat within the app. The video above shows how easy it is to start a BBM chat from within ScoreMobile after checking the latest sports scores to lay down a little trash talk in support of your favorite team.

Discover BlackBerry apps through friends via BBM 6

I’ve already told you how you can let your friends know when you’ve discovered a great new app via BBM 6. But, do you know you can also discover apps via your BBM friends’ profiles, if they decide to share? With BBM 6, you can launch or install the app by clicking on its icon within your friend’s profile update. This means you can discover great apps simply by reading the profiles of your trusted friends.

Tip: Look for new BBM connected apps to be added to BlackBerry App World. You can easily spot them on BlackBerry App World by looking for the “BBM connected” app icon. To help get you started, we’ve compiled a list of the connected launch apps below. Post a comment and let us know which apps are your favorites!

News and Sports:

• ScoreMobile
• Navita Sports
• Goal Mobile
• Placar UOL
• Huffington Post
• Azteca Noticias
• TVGuide

Location and Travel:

• Poynt
• foursquare
• Navigator
• Celebrate with Mobiesta – A Fun App for India
• asklaila Streetsmart
• Navita Translator

Music:

• Nobex Radio

Games and Entertainment:

• Jingu
• Backgammon King
• Forces of War
• Pocket Ants
• Photo Booth
• Battles on BBM
• Dark Galaxy
• Villains

E-commerce and Finance:

• Mercado Livre
• El Economista

Productivity and Collaboration:

• PowWow
• PowWow Premium
• Gist
• FileScout – the complete File Text Zip and Image Manager