Update 09/06/11: BlackBerry App World 3.0 is now out of beta and available for download. You can get it now at BlackBerry.com/AppWorld!

Team App World has been working hard on improving your BlackBerry® app experience. So I am psyched to announce that BlackBerry App World™ 3.0 is now available in BlackBerry Beta Zone for BlackBerry® smartphone users. Allow me to walk you through the new and improved BlackBerry App World.

First, my favorite new feature is the Home Screen – it’s been redesigned from the ground up! You can see that we’ve brought “Search App World” up to the top of the Home Screen to let you quickly find what BlackBerry app, game or theme you’re looking for. To make it even easier, you can also sort by App Name, Price, Rating, Newest, Best Match, and Popular.

Speaking of apps and games, you’ll notice new top-level channels in BlackBerry App World. Games and BlackBerry Themes are our two most popular categories, so we’ve promoted them to the Home Screen. Within these new channels, you’ll find another carousel of Spotlight Banners for featured apps, sub categories, and top 25 lists (“Free”, “Paid”, “Recently Updated”, and “New”).

The featured carousel has always been the first place to look for awesome new apps, – and we’ve expanded it in BlackBerry App World 3.0 to make it easier to find what’s new and what’s hot from our great universe of BlackBerry developers. Each month, you’ll see a fresh list of the best in BlackBerry apps, games and themes. Check out these screenshots of the Spotlight Banners we used during our internal beta (yes, when you’re a BlackBerry App World Product Manager, you get your own Spotlight Banner – Ed.).

We also tweaked the app detail look and feel to give you the top selection criteria at a glance. You can quickly swipe between app summaries, screenshots, and reviews – all in one screen. Found an app you like and want to share it with the rest of #TeamBlackBerry? Instantly send to your Twitter® timeline, Facebook® wall, email, SMS, or to a BBM™ Contact or Group.

This is just a sneak peek of BlackBerry App World 3.0, and we’ll be covering more of the new features throughout the beta on Inside BlackBerry. These features include easy subscriptions management through My World, the introduction of My Account for simple access to your BBID and payment options, updated barcode scanning, and additional search functionality. Want to get your hands on BlackBerry App World 3.0? Head over to BlackBerry Beta Zone and sign up today (please note that you must reside in one of the BlackBerry Beta Zone supported countries where BlackBerry App World is supported in order to participate in the latest beta release)!

Please welcome the BlackBerry® Protect team for a guest blog post to tell us all about the opening of the BlackBerry Protect beta, and some of the features included in the app! Take it away, team… – Ed.

Last year we introduced the world to BlackBerry Protect via limited beta. Throughout the beta, we received great feedback from the thousands of BlackBerry® Beta Zone users who tested out this personal data security solution, ultimately shaping it into what it is today.

Based on the tremendously positive feedback we’ve received on the improvements made to the product, I’m extremely happy to announce that we are opening the BlackBerry Protect beta. This beta is currently available in North America and some of Latin America only, although there will be further country rollout to come in the next couple of months! If you live in North America or Latin America and you weren’t able to be part of the original limited beta, you can now install BlackBerry Protect for free from the BlackBerry App World™ Test Center. You can also find it at the BlackBerry Protect web page, which is where you’ll need to go if you ever need help finding a misplaced BlackBerry® smartphone once the BlackBerry Protect device software has been installed (note: it may take up to 24 hours for BlackBerry Protect to appear in BlackBerry App World for some users. It will be available immediately on the BlackBerry Protect web page).

As a quick reminder, here’s a summary of what BlackBerry Protect offers:

BlackBerry Protect helps you find your smartphone and protect your important information by:

• Assisting in locating your BlackBerry smartphone on a map via GPS and cell-tower triangulation
• Locking and setting a device password
• Activating a special loud ring to help find your smartphone, even if it’s in silent mode
• Displaying a custom message on the home screen so that anyone who finds it knows how to return it
• Forcing an instant wireless backup of data even when you don’t have the smartphone with you
• And as a last resort, securely wiping all information from your BlackBerry smartphone, including the data from your SD card.

Additionally, the new wireless backup and restore features include:

• Automatically, periodically and wirelessly backing up your contacts, calendar appointments, memos, tasks, browser bookmarks, and text messages
• Optionally restricting backup to when within Wi-Fi® coverage or disable backup when roaming
• Wirelessly restoring backed up data to a new BlackBerry smartphone

And finally, some of the key feature improvements we’ve incorporated based on your beta feedback:

• Easier discovery and highlighting of BlackBerry Protect-related system messages
• Better clarity in status messages
• Unique and improved Loud Ring ringtone
• Clearer, simpler and more descriptive UI icons and graphics

BlackBerry Protect is a really great example of how BlackBerry Beta Zone members help to make BlackBerry smartphone applications and experiences better. If you’re not already a BlackBerry Beta Zone member, be sure to join so that you too can start testing out new products before they’re released.

Install BlackBerry Protect for free today, and be assured your smartphone data is protected even when you are busy and on the go! Let us know right here in the comments or in BlackBerry App World what you think of the open beta (speaking of BlackBerry App World, BlackBerry Protect leverages BlackBerry ID, so if you’re already using BlackBerry App World 2.0, you’re already set up with an ID!).

Thanks for your support!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Like many of my fellow RIM employees that made the trek over the Atlantic to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2011, I’m very excited for our new BlackBerry Travel app which launched in the BlackBerry App World Test Center. If you haven’t read our BlackBerry Travel Core Features post or Ty’s great BlackBerry Travel Getting Started Guide, check them out, but also make sure to check out the above video I was able to film today with BlackBerry Travel Product Manager, Andreas. Andreas gives me a hands on demo of many of the features mentioned in the posts above, and explains what makes BlackBerry Travel a Super App.

Andreas also wanted me to pass this information along to current WorldMate users looking to test out BlackBerry Travel. In order to take advantage of BlackBerry Travel, you will need to sign up for a new and free BlackBerry Travel account. You can later choose to import your existing WorldMate trips into BlackBerry Travel by following these simple steps:

1. Log into your BlackBerry Travel Web Portal account at www.travel.blackberry.com
2. Go to ‘Profile’ and select ‘import trips from WorldMate’
3. You can also send your trips to trips@blackberry.com

Andreas also recommend that you uninstall your existing WorldMate app after installing BlackBerry Travel. This will avoid duplication and provide you with an overall improved experience – for free!

If you follow the Inside BlackBerry® blog, you may have seen this BlackBerry® Travel™ app post from my colleague Andreas. BlackBerry Travel is a new application – currently available in Beta in the US, Canada, UK and Spain – that makes staying on top of your travel arrangements really easy! Today I’d like to show you just how easy it is to get the BlackBerry Travel app installed and set up on your BlackBerry smartphone, and answer some of the questions you might have when you first start using the app.

With that being said, let’s get started with an installation and setup overview, and finish up with some troubleshooting tips based on some questions I asked myself when I first set up the BlackBerry Travel app.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

We’ve got another guest blogger for you – Andreas, who’s here to tell you all about the BlackBerry® Travel™ app. It’s our newest BlackBerry Super App, and a great app for all the road warriors out there! Take it away, Andreas… – Ed.

Today, I am excited to announce the latest Beta addition to the lineup of BlackBerry® smartphone “Super Apps”: the BlackBerry Travel app.

Why would you need a native travel application for your BlackBerry smartphone? Because it’s the perfect solution for the large number of BlackBerry smartphone users who are travelling frequently and need a better way to plan, book and manage their travel plans right from their device. And because BlackBerry Travel is fully integrated with BlackBerry® 6, it gives you a seamless app experience that leverages some of the best of BlackBerry platform technology.

We have been working on the BlackBerry Travel app with our partner WorldMate® for the last few months, and today, we’ve launched the first release of the BlackBerry Travel app in the US, Canada, UK and Spain (we have a very aggressive localization roadmap, so expect us to launch a localized version in your country soon!). You can download it in the BlackBerry App World™ Test Center, and we have an additional community set up in BlackBerry Beta Zone to discuss the app!

The BlackBerry Travel app is focused on three core feature sets:

Itinerary Management

The BlackBerry Travel app is designed to automatically discover itineraries and booking confirmations that are sent to your inbox. These individual itinerary components are then quickly loaded into your BlackBerry Travel app and the accompanying BlackBerry Travel Portal. This occurs so the app can begin monitoring your itinerary components such as your flight plans, and alert you to any changes (flight delays, gate changes, cancellations and so on) as well as alert you to potential gaps (such as nights where you are missing accommodations).

The real power of this feature becomes clear if you’re dealing with complex itineraries that involve multiple booking partners and repeated changes to booking details. No more searching for the last mail from your travel agent! The BlackBerry Travel app is designed to auto-discover any booking confirmation or itinerary change mailed to your account and automatically insert, remove, adjust the components of your trip itinerary so everything is up to date and monitored for status changes.

Flight Search and Hotel Booking

Missed your flight, or had your flight cancelled? Search for alternate flights or book a hotel right from your phone. We are excited to bring you an inventory of more than 110,000 hotels worldwide through our partnership with the Expedia® Affiliate Network. The hotel search is contextualized, allowing you to very quickly find the right accommodation based on your location and preferences.

Travel Tools

Whether you travel for business or for fun, we know you need information about your surroundings, so we have built a comprehensive local search application right into the BlackBerry Travel app to help you find what you’re looking for. Because of our integration with LinkedIn, the app is designed to notify you if any of your LinkedIn contacts are in the same location, so you can reconnect with friends and colleagues on the road!

Download the BlackBerry Travel app from the BlackBerry App World Test Center if you’re a BlackBerry smartphone user in the US, Canada, UK or Spain – also, check out the community on BlackBerry Beta Zone to discuss the app. As we mentioned earlier, if you aren’t located in one of those four countries, keep an eye out for your country to be added soon – and keep checking back to the Inside BlackBerry blog for more info on the BlackBerry Travel app coming soon!

Later today, select BlackBerry Beta Zone users in the United States will get the opportunity to test out an upcoming radio discovery app, BlackBerry® Radio, and provide feedback to help us perfect it. This app will put multiple mobile radio services at your fingertips with no set-up and no cost for the beta user beyond their standard data plan costs.

BlackBerry Radio is not a traditional radio app, but instead works with multiple radio apps to make the process of finding and listening to radio on a BlackBerry® smartphone quicker, easier and more integrated by presenting a sampling of services from some of our most popular partners.

Here are four things you should know about BlackBerry Radio:

1. Simple discovery

With BlackBerry Radio, you can access popular digital radio services from one place. For example, users can choose from preset genre-based radio channels provided by popular radio services. BlackBerry Radio features a combination of Internet radio (including Slacker) and terrestrial radio (including Clear Channel, Corus, and others). Music discovery from within BlackBerry Radio is also simple, as you can choose from a variety of genres like Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, R&B, Jazz and more, with just one click.

2. Easy access to radio apps for more stations and features

If you really enjoy the channels provided by Slacker, for example, you can easily download their premium radio app at any time from within BlackBerry Radio.

3. Seamless integration into the BlackBerry Media Experience

While listening to music streams from participating radio partners, users in the US will have quick access to the recently launched Amazon MP3 storefront to purchase songs currently playing. Users can also access BlackBerry Radio at any time from within the music menu on their BlackBerry smartphone.

4. Trying services out – for no additional cost!

With BlackBerry Radio, you will be able to sample all of the various preset stations even if you aren’t subscribed to the partner service(s).

For now, this app is only available to beta testers in the US, but we’ll keep you posted once this app is available for all to enjoy. If you haven’t already, make sure to sign up to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone user to try out BlackBerry Radio and other great beta apps.

What’s your favorite BlackBerry Radio service? Let us know in the comments.

I’ve got three words and two numbers for you – BlackBerry App World™ 2.0! Okay, three words, two numbers, and an exclamation point. That’s not important right now. What is important is that if you’re in one of the 65 countries on this list, you can download BlackBerry App World 2.0 today! (You can check out this post for more details on App World 2.0.)

Today, I’ve gone through the forums in BlackBerry Beta Zone and put together some answers for the most frequently asked questions during our external beta.

The most frequently-asked question we get is: When are you going to introduce $0.99 apps? The answer is – today! Starting now, developers can price their apps starting at $0.99 plus tax and you’ll soon start seeing new apps in the catalog starting at $0.99 in the coming days.

Here are some more pressing questions from the forums:

Why do we have to enter our BlackBerry ID password each time we download an app?

You’re requested to log in with your BlackBerry ID for each download to ensure that it’s actually you who is downloading or purchasing an app. We’re extremely concerned about your data security and privacy!

When will other carriers be available for carrier billing?

We have really great carrier partners all across the globe and we’re working with them to offer expanded carrier billing options as soon as possible. Keep checking back to Inside BlackBerry for updates.

Will I still be able to get my apps if I switch to a new BlackBerry smartphone?

You bet! All you need to do is log in using your BlackBerry ID on your new BlackBerry smartphone, and all your previously purchased and downloaded apps will appear in My World. When you install the apps on your new BlackBerry smartphone, you’ll get updated license keys if required by the developer.

What are PayPal pre-approved payments?

When you set up PayPal® as your preferred payment method in BlackBerry App World 2.0, a billing agreement is created by you and Research In Motion®. This billing agreement allows you to make purchases in BlackBerry App World using PayPal without having to enter your PayPal username and password for each purchase.

We really appreciate everyone’s participation in the BlackBerry App World 2.0 Beta – and special thanks to the BlackBerry Beta Zone team for their awesome work in running the program! Head over to the Beta Zone today to register and participate in more exciting beta programs!

Have you tried the latest version of BlackBerry App World? Tell me what you think…

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I have exciting news for BlackBerry® smartphone users crazy about apps! BlackBerry App World™ 2.0 is now available in BlackBerry Beta Zone as an invite-based beta – make sure to sign up for a Beta Zone account so you can receive a beta invite! If you’re interested in learning more about what’s new in BlackBerry App World 2.0 – including new Top 25′s, barcode scanning, new billing options and more – check out my BlackBerry App World 2.0 preview.

Also, check out my video above and tell us about the top five apps you’ve downloaded with BlackBerry App World. BlackBerry App World is now in 65 countries worldwide (in six languages!) with over one million apps being downloaded each day, so we’re really excited to hear what you have to tell us about your favorite apps!

I’m very excited today to tell you about a new security application from Research In Motion® (RIM), BlackBerry® Protect. To help get a better understanding of the product, I spoke with Michael Accettura, Product Manager for BlackBerry Protect.

What are the key features of BlackBerry Protect?

BlackBerry Protect allows you the ability to wirelessly backup, restore and locate your BlackBerry® smartphone. In the event that your BlackBerry smartphone is misplaced, lost or stolen, BlackBerry Protect provides features like: remote device wipe, remote device lock, ‘Lost and Found’ screen, locate device on a map, remote activation of the BlackBerry smartphone loud ringer, and wireless device backup and restore.

How, when and where can users get the BlackBerry Protect application?

BlackBerry Protect is not yet generally available; it is currently in beta phase and will be launching first in limited beta through BlackBerry Beta Zone later this week via invite codes. If you’re a member of Beta Zone and don’t receive a download code, don’t worry, you will be able to try it out when it reaches open public beta later this year. If you aren’t a member of BlackBerry Beta Zone yet, it’s not too late – sign up for a BlackBerry Beta Zone account now and try out other apps available in open beta!

Can you walk us through BlackBerry Protect and give readers a preview of the functionality?

I’ve love to! The easiest way to explain the product is to walk through a few ‘real-life’ scenarios.

BlackBerry Protect Setup

First, the user would need to download and install the BlackBerry Protect application on their BlackBerry smartphone. After completing the initial registration, you’ll be given the option to backup the data on your BlackBerry smartphone. You will be able to decide what you want to back up – contacts, calendar, memos, tasks, browser bookmarks, and/or text messages. You will even be able to choose how often your BlackBerry smartphone is automatically backed up (i.e. daily, weekly, and monthly). Also, once the first back up is completed, only incremental data is backed up (i.e. new data since the last backup) to reduce data usage. Remember to always check with your wireless service provider to determine any additional charges that may be incurred through your use of the wireless network.

Misplacing your BlackBerry Smartphone (Loud Ring Feature)

So, I love my BlackBerry smartphone but for some reason I often seem to misplace it around my house (you’re not the only one — Ed.). This is why ‘loud ring’ is one of my favorite features of BlackBerry Protect. When this happens, I simply log into the BlackBerry Protect web portal where I can activate the loud ring feature – this makes my BlackBerry smartphone ring loudly for one minute, even if I had the profile set to silent. It also changes the default profile to ‘loud’, so I can call my BlackBerry smartphone to try to locate if I didn’t find it while it was initially ringing.

Dealing with a lost BlackBerry Smartphone (Lock, Lost and Found screen, Locating and Wiping Features)

In another situation, let’s say that I was out running errands, and when I got home I couldn’t find my BlackBerry smartphone. I realize I must have left it at one of the stores I was at. In this case, I want to be sure that if someone finds my BlackBerry smartphone, they can’t access any of my personal information on my device, and I want to try to locate the device so that I can hopefully get it back.

First, I would log onto the BlackBerry Protect web portal, where I would lock my BlackBerry smartphone and set a password.

Next, I would set the ‘lost and found’ screen with a message and contact information in case the device is found – this way they know who owns the device and can get ahold of me to let me know they found it.

Next, still from within the BlackBerry Protect web portal, I can use the ‘view current location feature’, which will use the built-in GPS functionality in most BlackBerry smartphones to help show me the current location of my BlackBerry smartphone. This will give me a good idea of where to find it.

In the worst-case scenario, if I can’t find my BlackBerry smartphone and no one has called to say they have found it, I can use the Remote Wipe feature to delete all the information off the device, including the data stored on the device and on the Micro-SD card.

Getting a new BlackBerry Smartphone (Restore from Backup Feature)

Once I have a new BlackBerry smartphone, I can wirelessly restore all my backed up data from my old device onto my new device. So, even though I’ve lost my BlackBerry smartphone, all of my information can be transferred to my new BlackBerry smartphone.

Michael, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today, and we look forward to hearing more about BlackBerry Protect later this year.

No problem!

Welcome to the second part of our interview with the RIM beta team! Today, Stephanie Joiner, Director of User Engagement at RIM answers your questions about the BlackBerry® Beta Zone. Click the link below to see Stephanie’s answers; if you have any more questions, post them in the comments and we’ll try to get them answered as well. If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to also read part one of our Inside the BlackBerry Beta Team interview!

When we Tweeted out to our followers asking for BlackBerry® Beta Zone questions, we got a lot of variations on the “when will we see an updated version of app X?” Is there a roadmap you can share with us?

We work really closely with the RIM® product teams to identify beta candidates and bring them to BlackBerry Beta Zone members. As the site continues to grow and be well-received by users and by the RIM teams benefiting from the user feedback, we anticipate adding more and more programs. I can’t really speak to future or rumored products, of course, but I can definitely say that our members will continue to get access to some great programs and we are always looking to add more products to our site and to build out the ones we have there.

We also received the question as to whether or not increased BlackBerry Beta Zone participation would lead to a better chance at unique beta invitations. Can you explain to us how the invitation process works?

There are a number of different ways a program could be introduced on BlackBerry Beta Zone. It could be an open program, which means everyone can join. Or it may be a limited preview, which would have a cap on program size. The limited previews are filled on a first come, first serve basis. In addition, some programs are designated for specific regions (handheld software is regionally based), while others are specific to business or organization use.

Lastly, there are a few products which will be offered by invitation only. In these cases, invitations are based on matches to current user profiles. All members are encouraged to keep their profiles up to date in order to increase opportunities for selection in these types of programs!

Our readers are also very interested in knowing when BlackBerry Beta Zone is coming to their country? Can you fill us in on which countries now have access to BlackBerry Beta Zone?

One of our top priorities in growing the site is to keep up the global expansion. Ensuring we receive feedback from all the places where BlackBerry smartphones are sold is very important to us. So as of last week, we’ll be adding new countries each week until we have covered the globe. Here is a list of the most recently added countries:

• Australia
• Bangladesh
• Caribbean:
  * Anguilla
  * Antigua and Barbuda
  * Aruba
  * Bahamas
  * Barbados
  * Cayman Islands
  * Dominica
  * Grenada
  * Jamaica
  * Montserrat
  * Netherlands Antilles
  * Saint Kitts and Nevis
  * Saint Lucia
  * Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  * Trinidad and Tobago
  * Turks and Caicos Islands

• Hong Kong
• India
• Malaysia
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Puerto Rico
• Rwanda
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand

What does the future hold for the beta program at RIM?

Can I say more, more and more? More programs, more people, more countries, more feedback, more changes. Our goal is to steadily increase the number and size of our programs to give members increased opportunities to participate and provide feedback on a variety of BlackBerry software.