Please join me in welcoming the BlackBerry World Vendor Portal as the newest addition to the BlackBerry ID club.

As previously mentioned, we’re working to make BlackBerry ID the only login required to access all developer sites. Developers will now be able to log in to the Vendor Portal with their BBID credentials or automatically have access to the Vendor Portal if they are already signed into Blackberry Jam Zone.

Existing BlackBerry World vendors will need to sync their legacy credentials with their BlackBerry ID, while new vendors will be able to sign in with the BlackBerry ID and request to become a BlackBerry World Vendor.

Dear Valued Vendor,

We have some exciting news to share with you!
Beginning on April 15, 2013, you will be able to conveniently sign-in to your BlackBerry® World™ vendor account using your existing BlackBerry ID! You’ll no longer need to remember and manage multiple account credentials. Access all BlackBerry applications, services and websites using just one sign on: BlackBerry ID.

How will this work?

The new BlackBerry World login page will walk you through the process. During the sign-in, you will be asked to link your vendor account to your BlackBerry ID. From there on, you will use your BlackBerry ID to sign-in to your vendor account.

Create your BlackBerry ID

If you don’t already have a BlackBerry ID or you wish to create a new one, visit https://blackberryid.blackberry.com/bbid/createaccount now and follow the onscreen instructions.

Happy Development,

BlackBerry World Team

If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below!

How to Target

If you wish to support BlackBerry 10 on a existing Approved/Up for Sale application, please submit it as a new release. Otherwise, when you’re creating a new release in the BlackBerry App World Vendor Portal, you will now see a new Family called “BlackBerry 10” and one new device “All Touch”. You can select “All Touch” to target your app for BlackBerry 10.

The BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha is also still available for targeting your app for testing purposes.

Built for BlackBerry and 10k Developer Commitment

The sooner you get your app submitted to the storefront, the sooner it can be tested for the Built for BlackBerry program; and if it’s tested and certified, you can then qualify for the 10k Developer Commitment.

To top it off, we’re going to review all apps submitted to BlackBerry App World in October and November for preferred carousel placements at launch as a thank you.

Developers, be sure you are using the Beta3 Developer SDKs launched on September 27 to create your applications.  Any app previously submitted, needs to be recompiled using the Beta3 Development Software and resubmitted.

Do you still need a reason to believe?

The beginning of summer heralds the arrival of a new BlackBerry® smartphone simulator model, the BlackBerry® 9310 smartphone. This model shares much in common with the recently-released BlackBerry® 9320 smartphone and BlackBerry® 9220 smartphone models. Applications adapted for these two models should run well on the BlackBerry 9310 smartphone.

Read on for information you need to get your apps ready to support this new device, or go immediately to the simulator download page to download the simulator right away. You can also download it directly using this link:

• BlackBerry 9310 smartphone simulator

Alongside the launch of the new simulator, we have also opened up the BlackBerry App World™ storefront to allow you to start posting your applications for sale. We encourage you to test your applications as soon as possible using the new simulator, and then navigate to the BlackBerry App World vendor portal to post your applications for the BlackBerry 9310 smartphone running BlackBerry® 7.1 OS.

The BlackBerry 9310 smartphone will support Bluetooth® 2.1 and include the following profiles:

• Headset Profile (HSP)
• Hand Free Profile (HFP)
• Address Book Integration using AT commands or OBEX (Object Push)
• Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP)
• Dial-Up Networking (DUN)
• Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP / AVRCP)
• Serial Port Profile (SPP)
• Secure Simple Pairing (SSP)
• A/V Remote Control Version 1.3
• Bluetooth Message Access Profile (MAP)

BlackBerry 9310 smartphone – Device Info

• 320 x 240 resolution, 164 dpi
• Application Icon size: 46 x 46 pixels
• Memory: 512 MB Internal Persistent Storage, 512 MB RAM
• 3.2 MP Camera, 4 X digital zoom
• QWERTY keyboard
• Networks: EVDO, CDMA
• FM Radio
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Autonomous and Assisted GPS
• Browser User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9310; en-GB) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.396 Mobile Safari/534.11+

BlackBerry 9310 smartphone – Multimedia Capabilities

We have a new batch of BlackBerry® smartphone simulators ready to download. There are multiple previously released models with new operating system versions and one brand new model with this group – the BlackBerry® 9320 smartphone. We also have a BlackBerry® Curve™ 9220 smartphone simulator that includes the keyboard and plastics. Here is the list of the latest simulators:

• BlackBerry® 9320 7.1.0.405
• BlackBerry® Curve™ 9220 7.1.0.405
• BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 (Japanese) 7.1.0.318
• BlackBerry® Bold™ 9650 6.0.0.707
• BlackBerry® Curve™ 9300 6.0.0.723
• BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700 6.0.0.723
• BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 7.1.0.219
• BlackBerry® Torch™ 9860 (Asia) 7.1.0.267
• BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810 7.1.0.342
• BlackBerry® Torch™ 9860 7.1.0.342
• BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 7.1.0.342

The BlackBerry 9320 smartphone is very similar to the BlackBerry Curve 9220 smartphone we wrote about in this post. Applications compatible with the BlackBerry Curve 9220 smartphone should also run correctly on the BlackBerry 9320 smartphone. Enable your applications for the BlackBerry 9320 smartphone in BlackBerry App World™ using the storefront Vendor Portal as soon as possible; this will ensure that your applications can be approved by the BlackBerry App World team in time for device launch.

Here are the specifications for the BlackBerry 9320 smartphone:

BlackBerry 9320 – Device Info

• 320 x 240 resolution, 164 dpi
• Application Icon size: 46 x 46 pixels
• Memory: 512 MB Internal Persistent Storage, 512 MB RAM
• 3.2 MP Camera, 4 X digital zoom
• QWERTY keyboard
• Networks: UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA, EDGE, GPRS, GSM
• Integrated GPS with A-GPS
• FM Radio
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Mime type: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9320; en-GB) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.316 Mobile Safari/534.11+

BlackBerry 9320 – Multimedia Capabilities