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)!

(Check out this great guest post from our good friend, Greg. You may remember him from our Inside the BlackBerry Accessibility Team feature. Ed.)

On behalf of the Accessibility Team at Research In Motion® (RIM®), I’m extremely pleased to tell you about the new Clarity theme for BlackBerry® smartphones, available for free in BlackBerry App World™. This theme is designed to help meet the needs of customers who may have visual impairments related to partial vision loss and/or colorblindness, and even customers new to smartphones.

The Clarity theme for BlackBerry smartphones includes the following features:

• Simple, easy to use home screen
• Clickable header on the home screen, enabling customers to choose between seeing Date and Time or Network and Battery information
• High contrast application screens
• Large, text-based application icons on the home screen
• Supports devices running BlackBerry® Device Software version 5.0, including BlackBerry® Curve™ series of smartphones, the BlackBerry® Tour™ 9630 smartphone, and the BlackBerry® Bold™ series of smartphones. BlackBerry 6 OS and touch screen enabled BlackBerry smartphones are currently not supported.

Find more information or download the theme today at BlackBerry App World! Also, you can learn more about BlackBerry Accessibility at our website, or read the Inside the BlackBerry Accessibility Team feature right here on Inside BlackBerry!

If you have any questions for us about accessibility and your BlackBerry smartphone, please let us know in the comments! Click the link below to see more Clarity them for BlackBerry smartphones screenshots.

BlackBerry® Theme Studio 6 is here, it’s free and easier to use than ever before! It enables one of the great features of the BlackBerry platform – the ability to personalize your phone by creating and loading your very own custom themes.

BlackBerry Theme Studio is a suite of tools including Theme Builder, for creating themes, and BlackBerry® Composer, for creating animations and graphics to use in themes. With these tools, you can customize virtually everything in your theme, including backgrounds, sound effects and ringtones, icons, menus and fonts. You can even add animations and screen transitions.

BlackBerry Theme Studio has also empowered professional theme designers. Their creations are available on sites like the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. In fact, themes make up over 20% of the titles in BlackBerry App World, and themes are the second-largest category of titles. To learn more about using BlackBerry Theme Studio, check out these great Inside BlackBerry blog posts:

• BlackBerry Theme Studio – Build your own BlackBerry Theme!
• BlackBerry Theme Studio – Build your own BlackBerry Theme! (Part Two)
• BlackBerry Theme Studio Tips: Using Adobe Photoshop

Now, this new release of BlackBerry Theme Studio makes it even easier to create a custom theme. Some of the exciting features of the new Version 6 include:

• A new user interface for BlackBerry Theme Builder that lets you click on any item on the preview screen and directly edit its settings. This allows for faster editing and a shorter learning curve. Plus, you can select multiple items to change all at once.
• The Background Wizard makes it easy to add dynamic wallpapers to your theme. Options include date-based or time-based changes (to highlight a special holiday or change images by the time of day), and slideshow backgrounds (to cycle through your favorite photos).
• New productivity features allow you to batch update all of the graphics in a theme automatically. You can also change fonts across multiple phone screens automatically. Also, BlackBerry Theme Studio continues to be compatible with popular graphic design tools such as Adobe Photoshop® and Corel® Paint Shop Pro.
• For our professional theme designers, a new “export” option makes it simple to offer themes through BlackBerry App World. The “export” option is designed to package all of the selected files and settings into a single zip file, ready for upload to BlackBerry App World.
• Last but not least, the new version supports the latest BlackBerry smartphone devices and software, including the new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 and BlackBerry® Style™ 9670 handsets, as well as new BlackBerry® 6 UI elements like the graphic content menus.

Whether you want to personalize your own phone, create unique themes to share with friends, or join the ranks of commercial theme designers on BlackBerry App World, I encourage you to try this new release.

• Download BlackBerry Theme Studio 6 for personal use
• Download BlackBerry Theme Studio 6 for commercial use

Our sister site, the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog, was all over the place covering BlackBerry DEVCON 2010 last week (with some great follow up content this week too!). While you may have seen some of their content on Inside BlackBerry already, such as the BlackBerry PlayBook announcement and BlackBerry Tablet OS interview with Dan Dodge, we wanted to dedicate an entire post to highlighting their efforts. In addition to the BlackBerry Developer Round-Up video above, you’ll find a bunch of great videos and post links after the jump. If you’re not already a BlackBerry developer, you’ll want to be after checking out these posts!

Announcement Posts

The BBM Social Platform
Platform Services Galore!
The Open Source BlackBerry Facebook SDK

Great DEVCON 2010 Videos

It has been an amazing year so far here at BlackBerry App World™ HQ. Twenty-five million of you have downloaded BlackBerry App World and are experiencing some of the great apps available for your BlackBerry® smartphones. There are some really popular apps out there, and judging by the response to our blog posts, Inside BlackBerry readers are also really excited about the Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones beta currently in BlackBerry App World Test Center.

We’ve been hard at work getting ready to bring some great new features to BlackBerry App World and today we’re excited to share them with you.

Top 25 Themes and Top 25 Apps

Let’s get started! You’ve asked and we’ve listened – you enjoy your BlackBerry smartphone themes, but you want to see them listed by themselves. You also asked to see what’s new and what’s been updated recently in BlackBerry App World, and we’re happy to deliver.

In our new “Top 25” screen, you can see the Newest apps, Recently Updated apps, Top 25 Free Apps, Top 25 Paid Apps, and Top 25 Themes. These lists update every 24 hours, and are based on a combination of number of downloads and user ratings.

BlackBerry App World Barcode Scanning

Another cool feature we’re adding is the ability for our developers to use a QR barcode to promote their apps. BlackBerry App World 2.0 will have a new menu option called “Scan a Barcode” – which works just like scanning a barcode for a new contact or group in BlackBerry® Messenger 5.0. Just point the camera of your BlackBerry smartphone at a QR barcode and the details page for the app you’re scanning pop right up!

More Billing Options

In addition to the ability to purchase apps with a PayPal® account, we’re adding support for two new billing methods to BlackBerry App World. To access these new billing options, you will be able to simply log in and choose ‘Payment Options’ from the menu.

Credit Cards

We know that many of you will be happy to hear that you will soon be able to use a major credit card (cards vary by region) to purchase apps. If BlackBerry App World credit card payments are available in your country, you’ll see the new “Credit Card” option where you can securely enter and save your credit card information for all your App World purchases.

Carrier Billing

We’re also excited to tell you that we’re working on integrated billing with various carriers to enable carrier billing as a payment option in BlackBerry App World.

PayPal

If you prefer the simplicity of paying with PayPal, then just choose the PayPal option. You’ll be asked for your PayPal account email and password once, and then all your purchases can be made using your PayPal account.

Introducing BlackBerry® ID

We’re also proud to introduce the new BlackBerry® ID, a device-independent user identification. With your BlackBerry® ID, you can easily download and purchase apps, then manage them in My World. Also, if you ever need to switch to a new BlackBerry smartphone, logging in with your BlackBerry ID will bring all your apps to your new BlackBerry smartphone so you can always have the apps you need, when you need them!

We’ll have more information on how you can be one of the first people on your block to try the BlackBerry App World 2.0 beta, so stay tuned!

If you’re a creative person that does design work on a computer, chances are pretty good that you’re using Adobe® Photoshop or Adobe® Photoshop Elements at some point in your creative process.  Did you know that you can use Adobe Photoshop comfortably alongside BlackBerry® Theme Studio to streamline the process of creating BlackBerry® themes?

One of the first things you’ll want to do when creating a theme is set your default image editor in BlackBerry Theme Builder, which is the BlackBerry Theme Studio tool that assembles all the pieces into a shiny new BlackBerry theme. If you set a default image editor, you can use it to edit the individual icon and background graphics easily.

Setting your default image editor

• From your Windows Start menu, select BlackBerry Theme Studio v5.0 and then select Theme Builder.
• Once Theme Builder launches, select Edit -> Preferences
• From the Preferences dialog, click Applications.
• Under Select Default Image Editor, click Browse and locate the image editor you want to use in your Windows directory. Typically, this will be under Program Files, in a folder named after the company who makes the application. For example, on my computer, Adobe Photoshop is located at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Photoshop.exe.
• Click OK

Editing images

Once you have set your default image editor, you can use it to re-edit the images that you’ve imported into your theme, should you want to improve or change them.

For example, suppose I want to edit the image used as the background on my home screen. In Theme Builder’s inspector, I’ll click the Theme the Home Screen button. This brings up the features of the Home Screen that I can edit or change, including the Home Screen background.

Beside the various icons and backgrounds that can be imported, you’ll notice a dropdown arrow. If you click the arrow, a menu appears. To edit the image that you’ve imported, click Edit …

From here, your default image editor of choice (Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Corel Paint Shop Pro, the GIMP, uLead PhotoImpact … whatever you’ve set up) will launch with that image ready to be edited using the tools of that editor. Make your design changes and save your work in the image editor.

Then click the Dropdown again and click Reload. The updated image will be added to your theme.

Importing Photoshop Files

A new feature that we’ve added into BlackBerry Theme Studio v5.0 is the ability to import Adobe Photoshop .PSD files into BlackBerry Theme Builder. Any time you import an image into your theme, you now have the ability to import all the usual image suspects as well as Photoshop files as well.

If you have any questions you’d like answered about building BlackBerry themes, please post them below in the comments section!

For the uninitiated, BlackBerry® themes can totally change how your BlackBerry smartphone looks. There are themes that reflect almost every type of subject – your favorite movies, popular television shows, your hometown football teams, popular comic book characters, nature scenes, rock bands – you name it. When you install a unique theme, it can change the appearance of almost everything on your BlackBerry smartphone – the backgrounds, the screens, the home screen, the icons and even the menus can be changed by a theme to stylistically reflect the subject matter of that theme. Themes can include unique animations, ringtones, and all sorts of visual tricks. Having a theme really helps make a BlackBerry smartphone truly your own.

Starting today, we’re offering themes in BlackBerry App World™ from theme developers. Some themes are free, some are paid but there’s a range of unique themes to suit your tastes and interests. To check out some of the great new themes, visit the BlackBerry App World web catalog via your desktop computer and click on the Theme category on the left hand side, or use the BlackBerry App World application with your BlackBerry smartphone.

Make sure you also check out this great post on personalizing your BlackBerry smartphone with themes from our sister blog Community Post!

Make your own BlackBerry themes!

If you’re the creative type, you can also make your own themes using the new BlackBerry® Theme Studio v5.0, which is free to download. Using this new software tool, you can make a theme of your favorite vacation, your pets, your kids or your own artistic designs for your BlackBerry.

My fellow Inside BlackBerry blogger Mark has a great series of posts designed to help you build your own BlackBerry theme:

BlackBerry Theme Studio v5.0 – Build your own BlackBerry Theme!
BlackBerry Theme Studio – Build your own BlackBerry Theme! (Part Two)
BlackBerry Theme Studio Tips: Using Adobe Photoshop

If you’re interested in selling a theme on BlackBerry App World, the process is pretty easy. Remember a few considerations:

• You have to be a registered BlackBerry App World developer. For more information about how to become one, click here.
• You need to have the rights to the images, sounds and content in the theme.
• Keep the subject matter appropriate for all ages that may be visiting BlackBerry App World.

If you want more information, please see the BlackBerry App World vendor guidelines.

If you’ve been a BlackBerry® smartphone user for awhile, you’ve likely come across BlackBerry themes. BlackBerry themes change the way your BlackBerry smartphone home screen looks: from the background image to the icon and cursor style. Some BlackBerry themes also feature animations and a completely unique home screen experience.

Did you know that you can make your own BlackBerry theme? What’s better, the newly released BlackBerry® Theme Studio 5.0 makes it pretty easy to customize your BlackBerry smartphone with a unique theme. All you need is a bit of creativity and some skills with graphics software like Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe Illustrator®, Adobe After Effects® or BlackBerry® Composer.

Today I’m going to walk you through the main interface of BlackBerry Theme Studio 5.0 and in a future post we’ll go step-by-step through the building process. Let’s get started!

Where to get BlackBerry Theme Studio? 

You can download BlackBerry Theme Studio for free from www.blackberry.com/themestudio. It’s an application for Windows – just download it onto your computer and install.

You’ll notice that BlackBerry Theme Studio actually contains two products in the suite: Theme Builder, and Composer.

BlackBerry Theme Builder

BlackBerry Theme Builder is the “theme design” tool of the suite. BlackBerry Theme Builder lets you change the images that get used for things like icons, background graphics and cursors. You can also adjust the fonts, change the position of many objects on the screen, decide which applications appear and change the color and properties of things like dialog boxes.

The main interface of BlackBerry Theme Builder is divided into a few different parts:

• The Preview Window
• The Catalog Panel
• The Inspector Panel>
• The Alignment Panel

The Preview Window – seeing how your theme will look

The Preview Window shows off your theme along with how it will look on the BlackBerry smartphone you’ve decided to make a theme for. The “preview” is – for the most part, just that … a preview.

When using BlackBerry Theme Builder, you almost always change the properties of your theme in the Inspector (more on this in a second) and don’t manipulate anything on the Preview window itself unless you’ve selected a function in The Inspector which asks you to then change things in the preview window directly.

An example in this would be when you select “REPOSITION BANNER ITEMS” items in the Inspector. Selecting this option will make it possible for you to select any item in the banner shown in the preview and move them around the screen to your liking.

The Inspector Window – where the work gets done

The Inspector is where you do the bulk of your work in BlackBerry Theme Studio. The Inspector segments the elements of your Theme into organized parts. You’ll notice several buttons as you work your way down the inspector and pressing each one takes you into a different area that you can customize.

Banners: Clicking on this button will let you change the properties of the banners that appear at the top of your home screen or in some of your applications. This includes the icons that appear (such as your battery life status), the position of icons and the fonts of the text.

Home Screen: Clicking on this button will let you change the elements that appear on your home screen (the primary screen of your BlackBerry smartphone), including the background, the applications and the icons.

Application List Screen: Clicking on this button will let you change the properties of your application screen, including the icons of the applications, the order of the applications and the background image.

Controls: Here, you can have fun with the controls that appear on the BlackBerry smartphone.  Manipulate the appearance of the dialog boxes, the buttons that can be selected, menus, title bars and more.

Phone Screen: Clicking on this particular button lets you change around the images that appear when a call comes in or is dialed out and you can now add your own ringtone.

Lock Screen: Clicking on this button gives you the option to edit the backgrounds, icons and fonts that appear on the screen when your BlackBerry smartphone is locked.

Global Items: Global items are a fancy way of referring to things that appear “globally” throughout the BlackBerry smartphone. Examples include things such as the progress bar that appears when an application is downloading, the key identifier that appears when a button is held down and the hourglass that appears when an application is installing or launching.

The Catalog – managing your theme images

BlackBerry Theme Studio ships with a bunch of background images and sample graphics that you can use when creating your BlackBerry theme.

The Alignment Window – lining things up

The alignment window helps you position objects correctly in the preview and works similarly to alignment tools in other graphics software.

How do I design those graphics? – Enter BlackBerry Composer (or just about any other design tool you prefer)

The second tool is BlackBerry Composer, a design and animation product that is great for helping you craft images, whether they’re static or animated. BlackBerry Composer has a full set of tools for designing built into it and it’s great for adding life to your images without having to buy other software.

BlackBerry Theme Studio is also friendly with other design tools. If you want to design your graphics in something like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, that’s fine too. If you want to add animation, you’ll need to learn a bit more about BlackBerry Composer, but we’ll cover that another time.

Next, we’ll cover the specific steps required to build a BlackBerry theme. Until then make sure to download BlackBerry Theme Studio 5.0.