It's time to celebrate and embrace the opening of the brand-new BlackBerry App World ... With an App World FREE App Edition! I'll take a look through some of the most popular and free apps available in App World at the moment.

If you haven't picked up the App World yet, you can get it on your Berry via mobile.blackberry.com or from your PC via blackberry.com/appworld. All apps mentioned in this special addition are all available right now in App World, so head on over via one of the links above for full details. Lets get right down to it. Covered in this edition are the following titles:

Viigo, Bloomberg, Ticketmaster, Social Networking & Sharing Apps, Music Apps, The Hockey News, Trapster and Poynt

Congratulations to our friends at Viigo for being #1 in the Top Downloads section in App World. They're off to an amazingly strong start, and honestly that comes as no big surprise to me. The CrackBerry Blogs feed is actually one of the default feeds found within Viigo from App World, so if you go ahead and download this app... Not only will you be showing Viigo some love, but you'll be playing a small part in spreading the CrackBerry love as well! If you'd like to show even more love for CrackBerry, you can always hit up crackberryviigo.com from your Berry's browser to pick up the CrackBerry-branded version.

Bloomberg has a free app available in App World that is perfect if you want to simply keep an eye on indexes, particular stocks, world currencies and more. It has a very clean, simple and easy to use interface... So give it a try if you're into the money game. Might come in handy. The folks at Bloomberg have been and still are working hard on this app. Many tweaks and bug fixes have been addressed in the current build, and they're also currently testing podcast integration with the app... Allowing users to download, save and listen to podcasts wherever they might happen to be. Stay tuned for more on this.

The Ticketmaster app for BlackBerry is your sure-fire ticket to scoring live event tickets from anywhere on the globe. Browse, search and purchase concert and event tickets right from your BlackBerry. A cool feature in the Ticketmaster app is how it integrates very nicely with the BlackBerry Wallet app. This allows you to make purchases direct from your Berry incredibly fast and easy. You might be surprised at how much you end up using this one... Give it a download to try it out for yourself.

 

If you're not only addicted to your Berry, but are all wrapped up in some or all of the social networking and sharing apps available today... App World has many to choose from, all of course available for free. Below is a short list of some of the most popular and free social networking apps you can pick up right now:

• AOL Instant Messenger
• Google Talk
• ICQ
• Yahoo! Messenger
• Windows Live Messenger

Get your social networking on. Be sure to check out some or all of these apps right now in App World.

There's a whole whack-load of music apps in App World to keep you movin' and groovin'. Whether it is Nobex Radio Companion, Slacker Radio, iHeartRadio or Flycast (Flycast Canada is also available), you're sure to find a perfect fit. To browse and install these apps simply browse to the Music & Video category in App World. Also worth mentioning is Shazam. If you've ever been stumped about a song and have asked yourself 'what is that song!?', load up Shazam, let it listen to the song, and chances are it will return to you the song info you were looking for. It's a very cool app.

RIM is a Canadian company... and Canadians love hockey... So it's no surprise that The Hockey News app is available for download in App World. When you get this app you'll have live game scores, the full NHL schedule, in-depth stats and more, all right at your fingertips. With the NHL regular season coming to a close very soon, make sure you pick this one up to stay on top of news and scoring just in time for the long playoff run to the Stanley Cup.

Trapster is an awesome app that will help you avoid traffic tickets by alerting you to speed camera locations and police speed traps. After you load up Trapster, you should see your location on screen. The blue circle is your effective 'alert radius'. If Trapster detects any traps within the area, the app will begin playing audio alerts such as 'Live Police' or 'Red Light Camera' so that you're well aware of the upcoming situation. Users from all around the world report locations of red light cameras and police locations... So the whole alert system is based on user contributions, which is really cool. If you have a tendency to have a heavy foot, this one is an absolute must have.

Searching for a great search app that delivers great local search results? Poynt does just that. With Poynt you can discover your immediate and local area by hunting down businesses, retailers and events all around you. View results on an interactive map... Even get driving directions, showtimes for movies, heck, even watch movie trailers and buy your tickets. Poynt is local search taken to a new level. Certainly worth a look.

Until Next Week..

Have news on BlackBerry Apps? New BlackBerry Apps, Upgraded BlackBerry Apps, Free BlackBerry Apps... it's all good! If you have any software news tips send them in to me at softwareroundup@crackberry.com. I can't do it without your help!

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