Today at BlackBerry World, RIM announced that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones will be shipping with Augmented Reality software Wikitude. This will be one of the first utilizations of the new Bold series’ digital compass and will allow users to browse the over 150 million Augmented Reality items already in their system.
The Wikitude World Browser has won the “best Augmented Reality browser” in 2009 and 2010 by readers of Augmented Planet.
I look forward to see what sort of apps and use cases come out of the new Bolds’ AR-friendly features. The influx of BlackBerry users into the AR space will mean a lot more user generated content. It will be interesting to see AR leveraged by BBM’s colossal user base.
Foursquare have just officially released version 1.8.2 of their BlackBerry app. The app is an incredible piece of BlackBerry developer craftsmanship that other companies should look towards for inspiration on their own applications. One of the most impressive things about the Foursquare app is that it barely, if at all, uses the BlackBerry menu, and instead has its own menu structure. The app therefore has a much more rich navigating experience, and this goes a long way to making a better user experience.
Loopt for BlackBerry has been updated with a new Pulse tab. The new tab brings event info from Metromix, Zvents, and SonicLiving and combines it with places info from Zagat, Citysearch, Tasting Table and more.
Other additions to the Loopt app include:
Loopt Pulse is even better at helping you plan your next move with new Events info from Metromix, Zvents, and SonicLiving.
Listen to music clips from concert Events and RSVP to see who else is going on Facebook!
Search for Events and Places by date and distance around you, your friends, or specific places.
Share button on Events and Places to share them with friends.
Ping your friends directly from the Friends list to quickly find out where everyone is!
This latest update of Loopt for BlackBerry is available to U.S. users on the BlackBerry Curve 8520, 8530, 8900, BlackBerry Bold 9000, 9700, BlackBerry Tour 9630 and BlackBerry Storm 9530 & 9550. The previous version of Loopt is still available for legacy devices such as the 8330. To see if your device is supported and get Loopt, visit loopt.com using your BlackBerry browser.
InfoExecutive asked me about LBS technologies and how they are currently being used in the BlackBerry space, along with my thoughts about where they will be in 5 years. I’m by no means an expert on this sort of thing, but here at BlackBerry Cool, we’ve covered a wide variety of innovative companies in the space, and it’s definitely an exciting time for the technology.
Here are some quotes:
On where I think the technology is currently:
“Currently, location aware applications are most visible in the consumer market,” he said. “Location based services like Loopt add a new dimension to social networking, and services like Poynt make finding relevant local information easier to discover.” In enterprise, McInnes said, GPS-enabled BlackBerry devices make device management more cost effective, allowing IT administrators to find lost or stolen devices. “Many organizations have custom-built location solutions for scenarios such as tracking fleets or red-flagging points in infrastructure,” he added.
On where I think it’s going:
McInnes believes the near future holds some interesting prospects for both consumers and enterprise. “For consumers, the world around us will become increasingly small, with local content becoming more accessible. Everything from social networks to music services can benefit from serving local content,” he explained. “In the enterprise space, location-based services will help organizations manage their assets more effectively, allowing them to cut costs and learn more about their business. In tandem with technologies such as RFID, an organization can track products, employees and customers, allowing those with a BlackBerry to have a wealth of information at their fingertips.”
I’ve been hearing a lot about the GetFugu app that is now available for BlackBerry. The app lets you take a picture of a brand, whether it be a sign or logo, and then finds specials, deals and information about that brand. You can also use voice to communicate the brand. Just say the name of the product, company or an associated keyword, and GetFugu will find information about it. There are also GPS features such as being able to get deals and information for products in your vicinity.
There seems to be little compatibility with this app, so make sure to check if you device is on their list. While their site displays a Storm, I don’t believe it’s compatible.
Kryos are a company here at the BlackBerry Developer Conference that help companies build applications for BlackBerry. Their latest announcement allows companies to rapidly develop and deploy LBS applications.
The platform used in developing these applications is called the Velocity Mobile Platform, which is now in version 1.2. The latest iteration of the platform supports GPS and offers a number of features such as device side scripting and validation, graphing, and BlackBerry OS 5.0 support for the latest BlackBerry smartphones including the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and BlackBerry Storm2 9550.
So if there are companies out there looking to get their LBS applications on the latest devices, but may not have the in-house tools to do so, Kryos may be your gateway.
