RIM has released the fourth beta of Facebook for BlackBerry. This beta version includes a few more UI features as well as generally improves the app’s ability to talk to other applications on the device. Other beta features include:
Enhanced Notifications – users will now be notified of polled items, such as ‘Likes’ and Event Wall posts.
Cross-Channel Messaging – Deep integration of Facebook with core BlackBerry applications allows users to share Facebook Content across BlackBerry Messaging Applications. An example includes sending News Feed items to other messaging applications, like email, SMS, BBM, Twitter and more.
Enhanced Integration with BlackBerry Native Apps – Building on enhanced integration with BlackBerry Native Apps, Facebook v2.0 now includes additional messaging options from the ‘More’ button within a Profile and from the Friends list.
In-App Error Reporting – Users can install the BlackBerry Feedback Tool through the Menu in the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones app. The BlackBerry Feedback Tool can be used to send feedback on BlackBerry features, functions, and applications at any time and is currently available in English only.
Touch Toolbar – BlackBerry users with a touch screen device will now have Compose, Reply, and Delete icons located along the bottom of the device screen in the Facebook Inbox for quick and easy access to these popular features.
Path is an incredibly successful iPhone app that has recently announced it’s coming to BlackBerry and looking for beta testers. The app lets you take pictures and share them with a close network of friends. Whereas Twitter posts pictures to the public for many to see, Path lets you broadcast to a smaller, more intimate group. We haven’t seen the BlackBerry version yet, but the iPhone version features:
Capture life’s moments in photos or short videos.
Make your moments more beautiful and personal with Lenses.
Share with a small group of 50 close friends & family via iPhone, Email, Web, or Facebook.
Tag your moments with people, places, and things to add context.
Know who has seen each of your moments.
Let your friends know how each moment makes you feel with Emotion.
Have intimate conversations around each moment with Chat.
Watch your friend’s reactions to your Path roll in with Activity
Publish the occasional moment on your Facebook Wall for all of your Facebook friends to see.
It’s always important to find a good WiFi spot with your PlayBook and the Find Near Me app can help you do that and more. The Find Near Me app for the PlayBook helps you find ATMs, Banks, Restaurants, WiFi spots and more. The app uses the built-in GPS in the PlayBook and plots pointers as overlays on a map to show points of interest in the vicinity of your current location. Find Near Me also allows you to find other locations and search for places around them. It even remembers the locations you have previously searched in. Features of the app include:
Automatically finds your current location and plots it on a map.
Find interesting and useful places such near you from a predefined set of commonly used keywords.
Customize the application to include custom search terms.
Search around other locations. Find Near Me remembers the locations you have previously searched.
Find details such as distance from your current position, address, contact numbers and street view of searched locations.
Use it on-the-go to search for places of interest and to plan your trips to new locations.
Menoo is a location-based restaurant platform that has gone public beta. With Menoo, users can find restaurant dishes close to them as well as help build the database of restaurants, much like foursquare and facebook places does. Users send messages, upload pictures, vote for their favorite dishes and write restaurant reviews. Currently, the app supports over 3,000 restaurant menus from around Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the US. Menus come courtesy of partnerships with Indonesia-based JalanSutra and US-based AllMenus.com.
BlackBerry Travel 1.1 has been released today in BlackBerry App World and the latest version includes global rental car booking, and a world clock feature allowing users to track the time across multiple locations and time zones. BlackBerry Travel now also supports hotel and rental car booking in over 20 currencies.
Since the launch of BlackBerry Travel 1.0 in mid-February, localized versions have been introduced in 5 languages and 49 countries, receiving over 1 million downloads. The application uses around 8 partners, including United/Continental, Lufthansa, Hilton, Starwood, Accor and Travelport.
The BlackBerry Travel app also features automatic trip scanning just like WorldMate, where your travel itineraries are populated as soon as you get confirmation emails.
Even though Android has garnered a lot of hype these days, from a developer perspective it looks like BlackBerry is far more attractive. According to VisionMobile, BlackBerry apps are generating 40% more revenue than Android apps. This is based on a revenue index where BlackBerry apps scored 2.5 and Android around 1.5.
Another important takeaway from this report is that even though mobile is an incredibly hot market these days, very few people are actually make money. Around 30% of VisionMobile’s respondents make less than $1,000 USD per application in total. This means that around 30% of developers are actually losing money when you factor in the development time.
