Calling all Java® developers: We have some news regarding the BlackBerry® Java® Plug-in for Eclipse™!

We are pleased to announce a new Open Source project for the BlackBerry development platform. While we have stopped SDK work on BlackBerry® 7 OS, we’ve decided to make the source code open for all those developers using the Java Plug-in for Eclipse. The BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse is now available as a repository provided under the Eclipse Public Licenses 1.0. The BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse lets you develop, test, and debug BlackBerry Java applications using the Eclipse IDE, in combination with the BlackBerry SDK appropriate for the BlackBerry OS your application is targeting.

The readme file on the project page details all the information you will need to build the source code for Windows or Mac, build your own update site for the plug-in or even build your own full installer. For all the details, jump to the project page.

Additionally, the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse 2.0 is now available for download as a complete install for Windows and Mac, or as an update via our Eclipse update sites. For more BlackBerry Java related information, tool downloads, sample apps and documentations, please visit our Java development page — and make sure to fork us on Github!

Calling all Java® developers: There’s an update coming for the BlackBerry® Java Plug-in for Eclipse! I’m happy to announce some great new features coming in our next release.

New features in BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse 1.5.2 include:

• Installer now embedded with Eclipse 3.7.2 (Indigo)
• BlackBerry® Java SDK 7.1 is now default
• New BlackBerry process view for optimizing battery life
• Ability to export XML data from the profile view
• Automatic downloading of debug files for device debugging

Helping our Java developers create the most efficient, best-in-class, and bug-free applications is very important to us at Research In Motion® (RIM®). To help make that even easier, we have added some new features in the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse that will help you optimize your apps even more. With the new BlackBerry process view, you can optimize your code by observing CPU time for active processes. Additionally, you can export your XML data to view your app profiling usage of memory, CPU and wireless traffic to allow further optimizations.

With a single download and quick installation, developers can start developing with the BlackBerry Java SDK 7.1 right away. To find out more about developing BlackBerry Java 7.1 Super Apps, check out the Getting Started page. Don’t have the right simulator bundle downloaded? Relax – you can still debug your BlackBerry app directly on your devices and the right debug files will be downloaded for you!

For more BlackBerry Java-related information, tool downloads, awesome sample apps and documentation, please visit our Java development page.