Inside BlackBerry » BlackBerry 10 Apps

Social Media App Updates for BlackBerry 10: Facebook and Twitter

Donny Halliwell — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:02:33 +0000

I’ve got some awesome news for those of you who just picked up your new BlackBerry Z10 in the US and for you old pros around the globe. Facebook and Twitter have been updated for BlackBerry 10. What I love, is that with each update, we’ve added some new features that make it easier for you to stay connected and do more with social media on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone. Check out each section below for a summary of new features and improvements and be sure to swing by the BlackBerry World storefront where each of these updates are available as a free download.

Facebook version 10.0.1 New Features

Friends Nearby – Now, Facebook for BlackBerry 10 allows you to discover if your Facebook friends are nearby. You’ll be able to see when they’ve checked in on Facebook to a location that’s close to where you are.
Photo Updates – There are new ways of interacting with your Facebook photos. Now you can now easily add photo tags to a photo you’re uploading within the Facebook application. Plus if you like that photo or funny picture your friend just shared on Facebook, you now have the ability save Facebook photos locally on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
Events – This improvement is designed to make it even easier to plan and keep track of your events. You can now view and respond to events, invite your friends to attend, create and view posts on the event wall, post photos, and even tag guests.
Sharing – Sharing information is at the core of BlackBerry 10 and now it easier than ever to share what matters to you with all of your contacts. Using the BlackBerry 10 share framework, you can now easily share links from your Facebook newsfeed to BBM, email, SMS, Facebook Twitter, and others.

Twitter version 10.0.2 New Features

Your Connect Tab – View all interactions in one place, including new follows, favorites and mentions.
Enjoy More Content – Take a look at photos, article summaries and other updates within your Tweets.
Added Perspective – See the number of times a Tweet has been favorited.

Check out these updates now and get tweeting, liking and sharing on your BlackBerry Z10.

Download Facebook for BlackBerry 10

Download Twitter for BlackBerry 10

Please note the app may take up to 24 hours to appear in the BlackBerry World Storefront.

Amazon Kindle Now Available for BlackBerry 10

Donny Halliwell — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:03:08 +0000

Millions of books are now available on BlackBerry 10 via the World’s most popular e-reading platform – Amazon Kindle. This got me thinking – what do you call a bookworm for the digital age? Morris. Geek humor aside, this is one app launch that we’re particularly excited for.

I love to read and I’m thrilled that I can now carry all my books with me in the palm of my hand with my BlackBerry Z10. I can buy a book once and can read it anywhere. Plus with technology like Whispersync my bookmarks, notes and highlights sync across my account. The app also supports newspapers and magazines.

On top of that, here are some other features that make Kindle on BlackBerry 10 so handy:

Personalize – Adjust the text size, change the screen’s brightness, choose your background color, and read in either portrait or landscape mode.
Look Up Words – Tap and hold any word in a book to view the word’s definition with the built-in dictionary or use the Google or Wikipedia links to get more information.
Sample Books Before Buying – Easily shop for ebooks and read the first chapter for free before you decide to buy.
Bi-Lingual – Kindle is available in English and French.

The Amazon Kindle app for BlackBerry 10 is available in the BlackBerry World storefront as a free download. Let us know what ebook you’ll be curling up with tonight in the comments.

Please note the app may take up to 24 hours to appear in the BlackBerry World Storefront.

Still haven’t figured out the Book Worm joke?

How to Create an App in Minutes Using BlackBerry App Generator

Donny Halliwell — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:00:29 +0000

We spent part of last week at BlackBerry Jam Europe, which is generally a conference dedicated to those who already develop apps for BlackBerry. However, there are also many programs for beginners. Since I’ve never created an app, I decided to take a run at developing an app for the Inside BlackBerry Blog. As I have literally no experience developing apps, I asked Alex and Luke for some help.

We used the BlackBerry App Generator to automatically pull content from the Inside BlackBerry Blog, and the BlackBerry Facebook and BlackBerry YouTube pages. It took us only about 10 minutes from start to finish and it was absolutely free. The result is a great-looking app that pulls in all of our articles, posts and videos. Let’s have a look as Alex walks us through the process.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

See how easy it was? Using the BlackBerry App Generator you could have your own app up and running in just a few minutes, even with no development experience. Do you have a blog or content and think it would make a great app? Give the BlackBerry App Generator a try for yourself and let us know.

How it’s Made: Marmalade Helping Developers Bring Games to BlackBerry 10

Donny Halliwell — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:48:27 +0000

Here at the BlackBerry Jam Europe conference, I’ve had the chance to talk to many developers and partners who are bringing their games and apps to BlackBerry 10. One of the partners that helps them do this in a simple way is Marmalade.

I met with Nick from the Marmalade team for a quick demo on how their product is helping to create fun apps that look and feel amazing. Check out how he’s able to start building an app and have it running on BlackBerry 10 in minutes. Let’s have a look:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Marmalade has been helping developers at BlackBerry Jam Europe to learn how easy it is to create apps for BlackBerry 10 so that when you head to BlackBerry World, you’ll have a ton of apps and games to choose from. Some of your favorite games for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet are already built using Marmalade, and many will soon be available (if they aren’t already) on BlackBerry 10 devices. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

BlackBerry 10 to Launch with 70,000 Apps – More than any First Generation Operating System

Donny Halliwell — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:08:35 +0000

[UPDATE] The video has been removed from this post for editing purposes and will be re-inserted when complete –Ed.

Apps are an important part of any mobile ecosystem, and we’ve been working with partners and developers from around the globe to help ensure that no one will feel lacking in apps and content on BlackBerry 10. I’m happy to say the we’ll be launching with 70,000 apps in BlackBerry World as well as content from some of the world’s leading entertainment partners.

Marty Mallick, VP Global Alliance and Business Development, BlackBerry, took the stage at the BlackBerry 10 global launch event to address the crowd.

“Thank you for your passion your partnership and your commitment,” he said to our developers. “Their belief in BlackBerry 10 is amazing and has helped us make this launch a huge success – right out of the gate! We already have 70,000 applications available for BlackBerry 10 and with the momentum we have built…we will continue to see thousands of apps added to BlackBerry World each and every week.”

~~Marty then aired this video of just how excited developers are for BlackBerry 10:~~

BlackBerry World has over one thousand of the top apps from around the world for BlackBerry 10, and one of the most robust music and video catalogs in mobile today – with most movies coming to the store the same day they are released on DVD. And for all you social media addicts out there, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare apps are preloaded for BlackBerry 10. We’ve worked hard to deliver what you’re looking for on BlackBerry 10, and leading application providers including Disney, Cisco, Foursquare, Skype and Rovio have committed to the platform.

In total, we’ve got those apps and many more to come. Stay tuned to the Inside BlackBerry Blog in the coming weeks and months as more and more apps become available for BlackBerry 10.

First Look: Apps, Videos, Music and More: BlackBerry App World on BlackBerry 10 [VIDEO]

Donny Halliwell — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:40:06 +0000

Just moments ago at BlackBerry ® Jam Americas 2012, attendees got a sneak peek at what we’re working on for the all-new BlackBerry App World ™ storefront. BlackBerry ® 10 will have more than just games and apps available on BlackBerry App World — users will also have access to music and videos*, all using a single BlackBerry ID ®. For BlackBerry 10, we’ve secured great brands and media partners including Facebook®, foursquare, and Gameloft, and we’re making it easier to manage your content, all through a single BlackBerry ID.

To explore it a bit more through a brief demo, I caught up with BlackBerry 10 expert Michael Clewley for an interview:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

There’s also a new BlackBerry App World for work as part of the BlackBerry ® Balance ™ technology in BlackBerry 10, which makes it easy for organizations to deploy and recommend apps for their employees. More on that feature with Luke over at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog.

Excited to get using the new BlackBerry App World? Let us know in the comments.

*Music and video store access may by limited in some regions.

For this video, we used the latest developer hardware prototype model, the BlackBerry Dev Alpha B, to demonstrate concepts we’re working on for BlackBerry 10. This device is not representative of final hardware.

Introducing Built for BlackBerry and the $10K Developer Commitment

Alex Kinsella — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 21:09:22 +0000

Quality matters. You heard it from Alec Saunders in May at BlackBerry® 10 Jam in Orlando. Quite simply, better apps have a greater chance of success. We feel the best way to help you reach that success is to be fully committed to supporting our developer community’s efforts. Quality is the cornerstone of the developer experience improvements we’ve been working on, and RIM® is dedicated to working with developers to bring the best apps to our customers.

Two of the ways Alec outlined our commitment to quality in the developer community and app ecosystem are with regards to app reviews and the 10K commitment. Today we’re excited to share more information on these initiatives: Built for BlackBerry and the $10K Developer Commitment.

In the Built for BlackBerry program coming this fall, you will be able to submit BlackBerry® 10 WebWorks™ or BlackBerry® 10 Native apps for third-party review. This will be free (for now). BlackBerry 10 apps that pass will receive “Built for BlackBerry” quality status, which you can display on your site, in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront – anywhere you market your apps. This is a great opportunity for professional developers to powerfully differentiate their apps in BlackBerry App World.

BlackBerry World 2012 Attendees Share the Excitement for BlackBerry 10 [VIDEO]

Donny Halliwell — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:48:53 +0000

We’ve wrapped up another awesome BlackBerry World™ here in Orlando. We wanted to share what attendees had to say following the BlackBerry® 10 platform sneak peeks that were shown live during the BlackBerry World 2012 keynote general session. Check out the video to see thoughts and reactions to the keyboard, camera, “glance” and other features being designed for BlackBerry 10.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

BlackBerry World 2012 Keynote App Demo: Occipital Panorama [VIDEO]

Donny Halliwell — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:26:11 +0000

Onstage during the BlackBerry World™ 2012 keynote, we asked a few developer partners to join us and show off what they’re working on for the BlackBerry® 10 platform. Photography buffs, check this out – Occipital used their Panorama app onstage to take a full panoramic shot of the keynote audience. Now that is one good-looking group of people.

Here’s the video of the live Occipital Panorama demo:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

BlackBerry World 2012 Keynote App Demo: Pacemaker DJ [VIDEO]

Donny Halliwell — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:59:05 +0000

Yesterday during the BlackBerry World™ 2012 keynote, we got a chance to see some really cool apps that are already in the works using some of the BlackBerry 10 developer tools announced this week. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one in particular so I can get my beat-match on!

Check out Pacemaker DJ in this video clip:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]