14 DAY TRIAL // Canadian mobile phone maker Research in Motion recently announced the launch of a new services platform for developers of applications for its BlackBerry operating system. According to the company, the fresh platform is aimed at offering them the possibility to build highly responsive, location-aware, revenue-generating applications for its smartphones. In addition, it stated that the platform offers advertising, payment, content push and new location services.
“The BlackBerry ecosystem is thriving and with the new services platform announced today we will help developers further monetize their applications and build breakthrough, highly responsive, location-aware applications for BlackBerry smartphones,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “RIM is continuing to provide the tools, technologies and business services that developers need to create and market even more powerful and successful applications on the BlackBerry Application Platform.”
One of the new features that developers will benefit from is the possibility to include advertising in their applications, something that will drive the generation of revenues, while also simplifying the business of mobile advertising. Developers will enjoy access to advertising networks like Jumptap, Lat49, Millennial Media, Navteq, 1020 Placecast, Quattro Wireless and Sympatico.ca, and the service will include ads compliant with the Mobile Marketing Association's (MMA) guidelines, the company added. The BlackBerry Advertising Service and a SDK will arrive in the first six months of the next year.
Other services that RIM delivers with the new platform include a BlackBerry Payment Service, which is designed to offer developers the possibility to better monetize their applications through selling digital content from within the software solution. The service and the SDK should emerge in mid-2010. The BlackBerry Push Service is yet another part of the platform, which will become available for all developers in the first half of the next year.
In addition, Research In Motion also announced new location services for the BlackBerry Application Platform (which benefit from the GPS capabilities of the smartphones), including cell site geolocation, a new reverse geocoding service, and a fresh travel time service. A reverse geocoding API is already available with the BlackBerry Java SDK 5.0, while cell site geolocation and travel time should come in the first half of the next year. More details on the new services can be found here.