In conjunction with BlackBerry WebWorks SDK v2.2, this documented set of APIs is designed to give developers the ability to accomplish the following with BBM:

• Access and update fields in the user’s profile such as status, avatar and personal message
  create app-specific custom areas within the user’s profile for promoting your app and recent activity
  related to it, e.g. achievements
• Initiate BBM chats with BBM users
• Initiate file transfers
• Share applications for download virally with friends in the contact list
• Initiate application-to-application background communication through BBM for sending and receiving application signaling, data

Furthermore, we’re excited to share a few changes that complement this SDK since the last beta release and here’s what you can expect to see:

• Published sample code and documentation for a BBM version dependency checker
• included all BBM WebWorks APIs into the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK as of version v2.2
• BBM WebWorks API documentation now published with BlackBerry WebWorks API Reference

To get started, download the SDK of the BBM Social Platform for BlackBerry WebWorks from the BlackBerry Developer Zone. For on device testing with the BBM Social Platform SDK, you will need to upgrade to the latest BlackBerry Messenger 6.0 version available on BlackBerry App World™. BBM-Connected Applications are supported on BlackBerry smartphones versions 5.0 and later.

To get started with the BBM Social Platform SDK 1.0 for BlackBerry WebWorks and review all the supported features, be sure to check out BlackBerry® Developer Zone’s BBM Social Platform page, and as always, stay tuned to the BlackBerry Developer Blog for more updates on our platform.

We look forward to hearing about your experiences combining the power of the Web and the BBM Social Platform!

Come and get it! We’ve just released an update to the BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0 and BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment (JDE) v7.0. Download the new versions today to take advantage of the latest upgrade.

You’ll find updates to the API documentation, code samples and an auto-complete feature. Multiple fixes to the BlackBerry smartphone simulator and MDS-CS Simulator are also included and the BlackBerry Java SDK now includes Mac. Download it today!

• BlackBerry® Java® Plug-in for Eclipse® v1.5 (Windows) – this includes the BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0
• BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0 – note BlackBerry Java Plug-in v1.5 must be installed first
• BlackBerry JDE v7.0 MR

Have a look at the release notes for a complete list of changes in this release.

You can find out more about the features and APIs that were new in BlackBerry 7 at our BlackBerry 7 development page.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Here’s a guest post from our friend Anders at RIM TAT! – Ed.

Cascades is the user interface (“UI”) framework that TAT has been using for many years to create numerous advanced UIs and applications, such as Scrapbook for BlackBerry PlayBook. I’m happy to announce that it will soon be part of the BlackBerry Native SDK.

Here’s a short list of Cascades features:

• Great performance, including amazing transitions and animations
• Flexible UI layouts including free form lists.
• 3D support
• Support for mixing pre-packaged UI components with custom components
• Core UI feature support

Cascades was originally developed to enable development of really innovative and unique applications. This put hard requirements on the flexibility and extendibility of the UI framework. The need for designer/developer collaboration was also one of stronger driving factors when developing the framework. Let’s dig deeper into how Cascades will aid the development of rich and compelling UI.

The flexibility of Cascades enables UI innovation

Cascades has a unique level of UI building blocks. In other UI frameworks, when stepping beyond the set of standard UI components, developers must often resort to low level OpenGLES-commands. Cascades provides higher level building blocks for many of the tricky but application-defining UI scenarios. Features like Flexible List layouts, 2D/3D transformations, mixing of 2D UI and 3D objects are all made accessible to developers.

The Cascades workflow helps designers and developers collaborate

In Cascades, UI elements are exposed both programmatically and through mark-up. The mark-up also provides scripting support making it a suitable environment for more design-oriented developers to work with, allowing for quick turnaround times and prototyping to find best possible UI design.

The markup also enables strong tool support including a Photoshop plugin making it easy to take and .psd sketch to a working layout in an application.

Cascades has beautiful pre-packaged components

Not every developer is a designer, full of ideas around 3D layouts and crazy infographics. For developers who prefer pre-designed and pre-packaged components, Cascades provides a strong set of Core UI components with great look and feel. They come with a number of built in effects and interaction design that will risk making your app look prettier than you can take credit for.

Availability of Cascades

Cascades will be released as a Beta during the Fall of 2011, with more and more advance features coming in future releases.

To get a firsthand account of how the Native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook OS and the Scoreloop SDK beta will help BlackBerry game developers, I sat down with Eudaimonia CEO, Ezequiel D’Amico. Eudaimonia is a game development and publishing studio based in Buenos Aires that focuses on online and mobile games with social components, using their proprietary engine for cross-platform development (Ezequiel is also speaking at BlackBerry DevCon Americas during the DEV15 – Game Makers Dream: The BlackBerry Native SDK for BlackBerry PlayBook OS session, so be sure to check it out).

Where does BlackBerry fit in today’s mobile gaming ecosystem? What is most surprising about BlackBerry games?

BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook are great platforms to deliver cutting edge games and applications. BlackBerry has an incredible audience for games, despite what people might think. The average BlackBerry user wants great gaming applications on their mobile device.

With the global success of the BlackBerry platform and through distribution on BlackBerry App World, we have achieved incredible success in the development and publishing of MTV Entertainment applications; a global brand that is highly focused on reaching young people with their fresh and cool entertainment content.

What makes BlackBerry the top mobile gaming platform from your perspective?

We believe in making BlackBerry smartphones the top mobile gaming platform. With the availability of new hardware and the great development tools available, there is not a single reason to not believe this.

BlackBerry App World has unique advantages compared to other application stores, as it holds the biggest market share here in Latin America and the second biggest worldwide; more than 165M BlackBerry smartphones have been shipped.

We just need to start delivering high quality games, focusing on great user experiences, in order to achieve this goal. There is a huge market out there waiting for our games.

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

How is the introduction of the Native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook significant for you and what new opportunities does it present?

Primarily, this was an enabler for us to integrate the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet into our MoWeb! engine. This greatly facilitates our ability to quickly bring great games to the device. Also, with the availability of the Scoreloop SDK beta, we are able to easily integrate social features that are now so critical to succeeding on mobile platforms. We are proud to be launching an original and extraordinary social game at BlackBerry DevCon Americas, showcasing the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet‘s gaming capabilities combined with the social features powered by Scoreloop.

These two tools were the key factors in developing our plans for 2012 – to deliver a very high quality game every single month and revolutionize the games on BlackBerry.

You mention how social integration has become critical to success on mobile platforms, why is this and from Eudamonia’s perspective, what makes a social application successful?

Everyday human activities are social; working, playing sports, even studying is a social interaction between teacher and student. Therefore, it is only natural for users to have social interactions when playing games on their mobile devices.

But social is not enough. You need it to be viral so that the app can essentially distribute and spread itself. If the app quality is high enough, the user experience is excellent and enjoyable to play, people will instinctively want to share it with their friends.

With the availability of the Scoreloop SDK beta for the Native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook, developers now have suite of social gaming features available to them. Can you share your integration experience?

Integrating Scoreloop features was very straightforward. They have really good documentation supporting their APIs, making it incredibly easy to integrate social features into our games. With the availability of the Scoreloop SDK beta, we can make any of our games social with very little effort, allowing us to focus on delivering exceptional user experiences and maintaining our reputation for developing high quality apps.

What has been the key to Eudaimonia’s success as a mobile entertainment developer and publisher?

MoWeb!, our proprietary engine, is the only cross-platform engine that is compatible with many of the BlackBerry OS smartphones. With our technology, we have developed award-winning games for very well known and established brands such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV and Discovery Kids. With the introduction of the Native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook, we have been able to expand the capability of MoWeb! to that platform.

What is Eudaimonia’s plan for success in 2012?

Our plans for 2012 are quite simple: make BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook our new top gaming platforms, develop very high quality games, and deliver one rocking game every single month of the year. Creating blockbusters for these platforms will make all other game development studios turn their attention to bringing their content to BlackBerry, generating a gaming revolution.

Click Here to launch the BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 General Session Keynote Live Chat

The BlackBerry® DevCon Americas 2011 General Session Keynote starts at 8:30am PST. We’ll be live chatting at the above link starting around 8:00am, so make sure to come join us!

If you’re interested in watching the keynote via live webcast, make sure to also head here: http://www.blackberrydevcon.com/americas/webcast

Also, be sure to follow the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog’s coverage of the announcements coming out of BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011:

Announcing BBX – The Next Generation BlackBerry Platform

Native SDK for BlackBerry Tablet OS General Availability Release

Open Source and the BlackBerry PlayBook OS Platform

Introducing BlackBerry Jam!

Scoreloop SDK Beta now available, Eudaimonia talks BlackBerry Game Development

Cascades: Rich UI Development for BlackBerry Apps

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Developer Beta: Android Runtime, WebWorks, Adobe AIR

BlackBerry Developer Challenge Winners – Recognition Award and Most Addictive Social App

Gaming on the BlackBerry PlayBook

Developer Roadmap: BlackBerry BBX and the BlackBerry Java SDK

BlackBerry Java SDK and JDE v7.0 Maintenance Release Now Available for Download

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

It’s always great to see how adding Super Apps characteristics will extend the functionality and stickiness of a BlackBerry® smartphone app. Sometimes, an application will end up surprising you, as was the case with the AccuWeather for BlackBerry application I got to see at BlackBerry World™ 2011 last week. In the above video, Mike from Xtreme Labs shows how something as seemingly simple as a weather application can leverage Super Apps characteristics to become a valuable tool in your daily life.

How are you building Super App features into your applications today? Leave us a comment and let us know!

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

With the BBM social platform development tools now in open beta, we are beginning to see developers create Super App experiences on BlackBerry® smartphones in new and exciting ways. One of the best use cases I’ve seen so far is in an upcoming version of the ScoreMobile for BlackBerry application, showcased by Five Mobile last week at BlackBerry World™ 2011. In the video above, Jeff from Five Mobile shows me how they’re leveraging the BBM social platform to make sports fandom a more social experience via status updates and BBM chat. Not only does this provide an enhanced user experience (half of the fun of sports is talking about them with friends, right?) but it means that developers can make their apps that much stickier using the BBM social platform.

If you’re interested in seeing other applications leveraging the BBM social platform, make sure to also check out our foursquare and BBM video demo.

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

One incredibly cool demo that I saw this year at BlackBerry® World™ 2011 was Poynt’s integration of BlackBerry push services to call a number on a BlackBerry® smartphone from their BlackBerry PlayBook™ tablet app. Peter Werry from Poynt, winner of last year’s BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge, walks me through this new feature and other innovative uses of BlackBerry services in the above video.

Post a comment and let us know what super app features you’re building into your application.

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

One of the highlights for me this week at BlackBerry® World™ 2011 was having the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing work from developers starting to leverage the BBM social platform. Social networking application foursquare is one such example, and was demoed during the Tuesday General Session keynote by Senior Director of Developer Relations (and fellow Inside BlackBerry blogger) Mike Kirkup.

The above video is really three videos in one! First, I speak with Mike about the overall opportunity available to developers that integrate BBM social platform APIs into their application. Then, foursquare developers Pete and Jeff provide a great demonstration of foursquare for BlackBerry integrated with BBM. I then pass the mic to Mike for a brief sit down with Pete about developing for BlackBerry and how the coming BBM social platform integration enhances the foursquare super app experience.

Post a comment and let us know what you think of the integration of BBM with foursquare, and what other applications should leverage the BBM social platform.

Jim Tobin, SVP of the Software, Services & Enterprise Markets business unit at Research In Motion® (RIM®), has a great blog post on Inside BlackBerry highlighting the benefits of our recent platform announcements for customers and developers. For your convenience, we’ve pulled out the developer-related information. Click the link at the end to read Jim’s full post!

We recently announced plans to enable developers to leverage existing assets for the BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment and Android® platforms to be easily ported to the BlackBerry® Tablet OS via ‘application players’. The application player for supported Android apps will be available this summer, followed soon after by the application player for supported BlackBerry JDE apps. Both will be available through the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

What does this mean for Developers?

• For the majority of developers, the way to go is still the BlackBerry platform and the widened set of tools we’ve made available. Only these can ensure that the developer harnesses the full power of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in terms of extremely rich graphics, full multitasking, and ultrafast processing. BlackBerry smartphone development options include the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ platform. BlackBerry WebWorks offers leading HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript support on a mobile platform. The BlackBerry WebWorks platform also supports modern web frameworks such as Sencha, PhoneGap, jQuery and Dojo.
• BlackBerry PlayBook tablet development options currently include BlackBerry WebWorks as well as Adobe® (Flash® and AIR®).
• RIM will add full tooling support for native C/C++ development for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet over the coming months. We’re highly confident about this. The QNX team RIM acquired to develop our BlackBerry Tablet OS has won awards for its Eclipse-based native Integrated Development Environment (“IDE”).

Because of the app players we’re providing, if there are developers currently developing for the Android platform, they can now rapidly move onto our platform while they evaluate our other development paths. We can now offer such developers an on-ramp to package and distribute their apps to our growing customer base of consumers, enterprises and governments.

Going forward, we will continue to evolve our various development technologies to deliver the most powerful, flexible and open experiences for developers whether they choose to build with HTML5, Java®, Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR, or native C/C++. And for those developers using our BlackBerry platform tools, we will continue to offer access to a growing set of on-device API’s to enable best-in-class integration with core BlackBerry applications and features (which we call “Super App” experiences). We are also planning to provide a range of advanced cloud-based services including the BlackBerry Payment and Advertising Services, advanced location-based services, application analytics, and powerful Push services. Stay tuned for more details on these future release plans.

Read the entire post on the Inside BlackBerry Blog »