Great news, #TeamBlackBerry: Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones v2.1 now has multi-account support—the top user requested feature. As of today, the app is leaving beta and will be made available for download in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront (please note it may take up to 24 hours for the app to appear in BlackBerry App World for some users).

In case you missed it, you can check out the highlights of the new multi-account support feature in the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 (Beta) blog post. I’d like to give a huge shout-out to our BlackBerry® Beta Zone users for their helpful feedback. The Twitter app development team here at Research In Motion® (RIM®) has since implemented a keyboard shortcut (Alt+Space) to make switching accounts a cinch. (Note: the shortcut key does not work on devices with SureType® keyboards.)

There are also a couple of cool multi-account support features available for BlackBerry® 6 and BlackBerry® 7 OS users in Social Feeds for effectively managing multiple Twitter accounts. Let’s take a closer look at Share with BBM and multi-account support in this updated version.

Share with BBM

While you could always share Tweets with your BBM contacts (as well as through email, text message, PIN, and Facebook®!), the Share with BBM feature has been added as a top-level menu item to make it easier to share Tweets with your BBM contacts. Having conversations about relevant Tweets through BBM has never been so easy.

Share Tweets with BBM Contacts and Groups

View multiple Twitter accounts in a single timeline

Using Social Feeds, you can view a stream of Tweets from up to five Twitter accounts in a single Social Feeds timeline, or you can opt to filter individual Twitter accounts.

View a stream of Tweets from all Twitter accounts in Social Feeds

Option to filter individual Twitter accounts

Post a Tweet to multiple Twitter accounts

Do you have one Tweet that begs to be published from multiple accounts – all at the same time? Now it’s possible to publish a Tweet to one or more Twitter accounts simultaneously. Just click New Post from the menu and select all of the Twitter accounts you wish to post a Tweet from and you’re good to roll. It’s that simple.

Post a tweet to multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously

As mentioned, Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 with multi-account support and enhanced Share with BBM functionality will become available in BlackBerry App World over the next 24 hours. (Please note: The Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 app is available for users running BlackBerry® Device Software v5.0 and up. To check your device’s version of software and update it if applicable, see this Inside BlackBerry Help Blog post: How to identify BlackBerry Device Software versions.)

I look forward to reading your feedback on everything we do, but especially on Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones! Please log in and leave a comment below if you want to share.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s new in this release.

Additional Profile Functions

You’ll notice that just to the right of My Profile photo and name, there are two new icons: Edit Profile and Switch Accounts. While you could always edit your profile via the Menu, now you can use the Edit Profile icon right from the Profile screen to change your picture or update your personal information. The Edit Profile screen has also received a new facelift.

New Edit Profile and Switch Account icons

Multi-Account Support

The new Multi-Account Support feature is designed to let you use up to five accounts on Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones. When logged into multiple accounts, the current user name will appear in the upper-left corner of the header bar and the user picture will appear in the My Profile icon. You can quickly switch between accounts by using the Switch Account function, accessible from My Profile or via the Menu. Have an interesting Tweet in one account that you’d like to share from another account? No problem, you can cross-post Tweets and Retweets from one account to another without switching the current account view. You can also stay notified of Mentions and Messages with near real-time notifications for each of your Twitter accounts.

Account Switch via My Profile

Account Switch on Retweet

This update is currently available in BlackBerry Beta Zone. To download the latest beta version, you need to register to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone member. Not sure how to get started? Check out Ty’s blog post on how to join a BlackBerry Beta Zone program. Please note that you must reside in one of the BlackBerry Beta Zone supported countries in order to participate in the latest beta release.

Download it today and be sure to leave a comment to tell us what you think.

Good news for business: The Citrix® Receiver for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet (Citrix Receiver) is now available for beta testing. Download it today from the Test Center on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

The Citrix Receiver is enterprise virtualization software that allows users to access virtual desktops (such as Citrix® XenDesktop) on servers running Microsoft® Windows, plus enterprise applications hosted within your organization to allow standalone app virtualization. With the Citrix Receiver, users can open: (1) any Windows software that’s installed on the server you’re accessing; (2) Software as a Service (SaaS), or (3) a web app.( I’m personally looking forward to using the Microsoft® Office® suite and Microsoft® Outlook® via the Citrix Receiver, as well as the Adobe® Creative Suite® of products.) Check out more important features below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

For all you concert and live event fans, you’ll be happy to know that Ticketmaster® for BlackBerry® smartphones version 2.0 is now available for download from BlackBerry Beta Zone. We’ve made significant improvements to this update, including redesigning the application from ground up to provide great event search functionality and a user-friendly purchase experience optimized for your BlackBerry smartphone.

With the help of the GPS technology in your device, the Ticketmaster experience is designed to help you find events wherever you are or wherever you will be. Additionally, there are other areas of integration – like with your Calendar – to make this a Super App. So without further adieu, let’s walk through the key features of the newly designed application.

Logging In

When you run the app for the first time, you’ll be presented with a login screen before accessing “My Ticketmaster”. You can log in using your existing Ticketmaster account, or you can create a new account. You always have the option of skipping this step and logging in later for a more personalized experience.

My Ticketmaster

From the home screen, after logging in, you can access My Ticketmaster – where you can check out your favorite artists/teams/venues list, your profile and your order history. You can also add additional artists/teams/venues that may not have upcoming events planned, but that you may want to keep an eye on in case an event gets added.

Search – Finding an Event

For those of you who are keeping an eye out for concert dates of your favorite artists, search is the best place to start. It is very easy to find an event.

Type the name of the band or artist in the search field and click search. You’ll get a list of all events that match your search terms. You have the option to further refine the list of events based on when the events are happening. For instance, you can narrow your search results to events coming this weekend, happening in the next 90 days, or within your own custom date range.

Remember that searches are location specific, so if you’re looking for events in another city, you’ll need to change your location in the upper-right hand corner first.

Local Events

Got an open schedule and not sure what events are happening around you? If you want to find events that are happening near you and you’re open to any type of event, go to Local Events, and you’ll get a list of events that are happening in your area. You have the extra option to filter by date, so you can see what’s happening this weekend, or within the next 31 days. You can also narrow events by the event category type, so if you’re in the mood for the latest Broadway musical or nearest monster truck rally, finding your event is a breeze.

Purchasing Tickets

Once you’ve found an event that interests you, choosing that event will allow you to see reviews of the artists, add the artist to your favorites, see important notes about the event and review the price/seat map. You can also click on the venue to get more details about that particular site.

Once you’ve decided you’re going to buy tickets, purchasing tickets is a simple 4 step process:

Step 1: Choose the number of tickets (and, if you wish, the ticket price and seat section). Click on “Find Tickets” and the tickets that meet your search criteria will bereserved for your review. Much like the Ticketmaster website, there is a time limit for completing the transaction once the tickets have been reserved. Don’t dawdle or you may lose the tickets that were reserved! You can review the seating chart again to make sure they’re tickets that you want.

Step 2: Continuing on the next screen, you’ll need to log in or create a login if you haven’t already done so. Once logged in, you’ll have an option to choose how you want the tickets to be delivered, whether through standard post mail, expedited service or will call.

Step 3: Confirm your order details.

Step 4: If you’ve made it here, it means you’re ready to pay. You can add a credit card in this step if you don’t already have a card associated with your Ticketmaster account.

Now that you’ve completed your purchase, you can easily add the event to your Calendar, set yourself a reminder and be on your way!

Ticketmaster for BlackBerry smartphones is available on BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry® Device Software 4.5 and above in North America. Download it today from BlackBerry Beta Zone and let us know what you think – and don’t forget to check back to see when it’ll be available in BlackBerry App World!

UPDATE 07/07/2011: Quick update, friends! Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 is now live in BlackBerry App World. Click the link and check it out! (Note: It may take up to 24 hours for the new version of Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones to appear in BlackBerry App World for some users).

The Twitter® app team here at Research In Motion® (RIM®) always strives to deliver a great user experience that meets the diverse needs of our customers. The updates included in this latest version were primarily driven by customer feedback we received on v2.0. We hope that you will be happy with the changes we’ve made to continue to improve the experience of Twitter for BlackBerry® smartphones.

The Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 Beta update is available today within BlackBerry® Beta Zone. Let’s take a look at the latest changes we’ve made:

Color Refresh

This update features a lighter color scheme consisting of light blue with a shade of white. This new, smooth color scheme makes it easy to follow where you are in the timeline and has been incorporated throughout the app.

Compose a Tweet

It’s all about options! By default, the Tweet composer is “hidden” from the Home timeline but accessible from the new “Compose Tweet” bar located below the nav bar as displayed in Option 1 below. Clicking the “Compose Tweet” bar will bring up the Tweet composer at the bottom of the screen, similar to if you’re composing a Tweet via the Menu or by using the same hotkey that you would use to compose an email message from the BlackBerry message list (for example, in English, the hotkey is ‘c’ if using a QWERTY keyboard). Alternatively, you can choose to display the Tweet composer as a static fixture at the top of the Home timeline (see Option 2).

Option 1

Option 2

Trending Topics now with local trends support

A Trending Topics icon has been added to the nav bar and now includes local trends support. Local trends helps you keep in touch with the trends in your area while on-the-go with the Twitter app.

My Profile

Now you can access your profile quickly and easily from the nav bar (or the Menu). And, you’ll notice that the icon is personalized with your profile picture to better help you identify the account that you’re logged into (teaser: this feature will be especially helpful should we include multi-account support in a future release. #justsayin =D).

Performance Enhancements

Last but certainly not least, we’ve included some performance enhancements to improve the overall usability of the app.

This update is currently available in BlackBerry Beta Zone. To download the latest beta version, you need to register to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone member. Please note that you must reside in one of the BlackBerry Beta Zone supported countries in order to participate in the latest beta release.

Check it out today and post a comment below to let us know what you think of the changes we’ve made.

Following the announcement of BlackBerry® 7 at the BlackBerry® World™ conference, I’m pleased to announce that the BlackBerry® Java® SDK v7.0 is now available in beta!

This new version of the SDK also comes with simulators for the new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 series of smartphones, allowing you to test your applications against the latest and greatest. With the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 smartphone on their way, you will have the tools you need to make sure your apps are running on these smartphones at launch. What’s more, the BlackBerry App World™ storefront is also accepting app submissions for these new devices! You now have the chance to be among the first to have your application submitted and ready for these exciting new products.

The BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse™ and the BlackBerry Java Development Environment have also both been updated to support the new OS version, featuring an abundance of new APIs. They’re all listed out in great detail in the “New in this Release” section of the Release Notes.

For more information on what developers need to know about BlackBerry 7 and to download the BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0 beta, check out the BlackBerry 7 landing page on BlackBerry Developer Zone.

Update: Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 is now available in BlackBerry App World!

Hot on the heels of the official release of Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones v1.1 is the latest beta version of Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones – version 2.0 – which is available in BlackBerry® Beta Zone today.

Another release already, you say? Our Twitter app team here at Research In Motion® (RIM®) has adopted an iterative development approach, which means smaller scoped releases will be available to you on a more frequent basis. This means you get access to more features, faster!

What’s New in v2.0?

The focus of this iteration is simplified navigation. You’ll notice that the navigation bar has a sleek new look with simplified access to popular Twitter features. For instance, we’ve combined the ‘Search’, ‘Find People’, and ‘Popular Topics’ screens into a new Single Search Screen. Now you can search for Tweets and people from a single location, as well as view Trends and Saved Searches, unifying the entire Twitter Search experience.

Another great feature for BlackBerry® 6 users: Twitter Search works with the universal search feature on your BlackBerry smartphone! Search for anything and the universal search tool will pull in relevant results from your entire BlackBerry smartphone, including all Search categories within Twitter.

In addition to the new black chrome color scheme, you’ll notice there’s a new “Compose Tweet” button located on the Nav Bar that acts as a single touch-point for composing Tweets from anywhere in the app.

Sign up for the BlackBerry Beta Zone today and post a comment to let us know what you think. Also, keep an eye out here for subsequent releases coming soon!

Today marks the official launch of the Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones v1.1 application. This version – which our helpful BlackBerry Beta Zone users have been testing over the past six weeks – includes several new and exciting features, like adding a location to your Tweets and Push @Mentions.

A big shout out to everyone who participated in the beta and provided their valuable feedback! Since the release of the beta version, the Twitter app team at Research In Motion® (RIM®) has been busy working on some additional improvements in response to feedback raised during the beta.

Let’s take a look at some of the new features in more detail so you can start using them!

Tweet Location

By enabling this feature, you can pinpoint your location in a neighborhood and include it your Tweets. To try out this feature, complete the following steps:

1. Open Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v1.1
2. Press the Menu key and select Options
3. Enable Add Location To Tweet and save your changes

After enabling this setting, you’ll notice a new compass icon that appears to the right of the photo icon below the Tweet box. To add your location, select this icon and your BlackBerry smartphone will determine where you are and add it to any new Tweets you submit. If you want to remove your location, simply select the icon again to disable this feature until you’re ready to use it again.

Viewing someone else’s location – if they have enabled this feature – is really easy too! All you need to do is select the location icon that appears in the bottom right corner of their tweet and a map view will open, allowing you to see where they were when they submitted that Tweet.

Other new features include Push @Mentions and #Topic Autocomplete, which were previously discussed in the Twitter v1.1 Beta post.

Refreshed Branding

We’ve made several changes to enhance the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphone experience, like updated graphics that reflect the new look of the Twitter brand and a streamlined layout of the Add Photo and Add Location icons on the Home screen.

Retweet Updates

The next time you Retweet something, it will appear in your Home timeline as ‘Retweeted by You’, to quickly alert you that your Retweet was sent successfully.

New language support

Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones now supports the following additional languages:

• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
• Polish
• Czech
• Thai

We’ve also made several changes to address feedback that we received from BlackBerry Beta Zone users reported during the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v1.1 beta. One of the issues we’ve addressed is the “Unable to Find Location” error message that appeared whenever a user attempted to submit a new tweet. We’ve also made some changes to ensure that you don’t encounter any difficulties when attempting to shorten a URL you’d like to share, or that you don’t experience delays when opening the Twitter app on your BlackBerry smartphone.

Upgrading to the latest release

To upgrade to the latest release of Twitter on your BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps:

1. Open Twitter on your BlackBerry smartphone
2. Press the Menu key and select Options
3. Scroll down and select the option Check for Upgrade Now

If you currently do not have Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones and would like to install it, you can download it through BlackBerry App World on your BlackBerry smartphone.

We always welcome your feedback, so please post a comment and let us know what you think about the latest version of Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones!

At BlackBerry® DEVCON 2010, Research In Motion® (RIM®) announced the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) Social Platform. Today, the BBM Social Platform officially moves into public beta. BlackBerry platform developers can now start adding social Super App features to their applications, leveraging all the power that the BBM Social Platform has to offer!

With this beta release, developers have the ability to accomplish the following:

Read more at the BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

Twitter® is getting an update! We’re thrilled to bring you the latest beta version of Twitter for BlackBerry® smartphones v1.1, which recently launched through BlackBerry® Beta Zone.

Some of the new and exciting features in this release include Geotagging Tweets, Push @Mentions, Chat-Style Messages, #Topic Autocomplete and more! You’ll also notice that we’ve updated the Twitter graphics throughout the app to reflect the new look of the Twitter brand.

Geotagging Tweets

Geotagging functionality on Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones is designed to allow you to add your geographical location to Tweets (i.e. the neighborhood and city you are located in at the time of your Tweet). Geotags provide valuable context to your Tweets, as it allows others to see what location you’ve tweeted from. You can enable this feature in the Options menu, as it is turned off by default.

Push @Mentions

Now when you’re mentioned on Twitter, you’ll immediately receive a notification on your BlackBerry smartphone through the use of BlackBerry Push technology. You can control whether you want to be notified when anyone mentions you, or just when your followers mention you. With Push @Mentions, you’ll know who is talking about you or to you, so you can continue the conversation as it happens.

Chat-Style Messages

We’ve renamed Direct Messages to Messages to align with the online Twitter experience and redesigned the interface to follow a chat-style layout. Personally, this is one of my favorite changes!

#Topic Autocomplete

The #Topic Autocomplete feature will pop up a list of keywords based on previous hashtagged words(e.g. BlackBerry) in Tweets, Retweets, or any hashtagged words you’ve selected or searched for in Popular Topics, as well as in applications like Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones.

Many of these new features have been added based on your suggestions, so we’d like to thank you for helping us to continually improve our app. To try out Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v1.1, sign up to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone user if you haven’t already, and let us know what you think!