RIM Launches Social Developer Tools For BlackBerry
RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform lets developers integrate social features such as chat into their third-party applications
Research in Motion (RIM) on Monday extended its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) peer-to-peer messaging platform with tools allowing it to be integrated into third-party applications.
The BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform, expected to be available in spring 2011, gives developers access to a set of APIs that let them build BBM features such as chat, content sharing and invitations into their applications, RIM said.
For instance, BBM users could use the service to invite a friend to join them in a game, and then chat with one another while the game is being played, according to RIM.
“Access to BBM services from within apps will revolutionise gaming, enhance multimedia experiences, and add a new dimension to location based applications,” said Alan Brenner, RIM senior vice president for the BlackBerry Platform, in a statement.
Brenner noted that BBM currently has more than 28 million users.
Other BBM features users will be able to integrate include contact lists, user profiles, application-specific communities and content transfer, according to RIM.
WebWorks developer platform
Also on Monday RIM launched WebWorks, a set of development tools for the development of HTML-based BlackBerry applications.
The open source tools are designed to compete with existing technologies such as JQuery and PhoneGap, but RIM said its offering provides better BlackBerry integration than third-party products.
The platform combines existing BlackBerry web development tools with new tools and services, RIM said.
The goal is to allow developers to quickly create BlackBerry applications using web technologies such as HTML 5, CSS and JavaScript, while still being able to integrate technologies such as multi-tasking and services such as the BlackBerry Advertising Service, also announced on Monday.
“The new BlackBerry WebWorks platform takes the power of existing web tools and enhances and adds to them in order to allow developers to build sophisticated applications using their existing HTML5 skill sets with no compromise in functionality or performance,” said David Yach, RIM’s chief technology officer for software, in a statement.
WebWorks is available immediately from source code hosting site GitHub.
BlackBerry tablet
Also this week RIM launched a BlackBerry themed tablet, called PlayBook, to compete with devices such as Apple’s iPad.
In August RIM released the BlackBerry 6 platform, along with developer tools supporting the new platform.
The new tools included a Java software development kit (SDK) v 6.0, which RIM officials said takes advantage of new user interface (UI) features and offers deeper integration with BlackBerry smartphones, access to new and enhanced services, and support for rendering and porting content to the new WebKit-based browser.
