Back during the BlackBerry Developers Conference last year, Research In Motion showed off a new, at the time yet to be released geolocation feature. The feature itself allowed developers to be able to quickly get your current location information simply based off the cell towers in which you were attached too. The idea behind this of course, is that many applications can now access your location data without ever having to initialize your device GPS which, if used often enough can severely drain your battery. As we were advised:

Today, RIM introduced a new geolocation feature of the Locate Service. The Geolocation service uses cell towers to gather quick location information and deliver it to applications on BlackBerry smartphones. Because it uses cell tower information, no GPS is required – meaning developers can have their applications call on location information in areas where there is no GPS coverage.

The location data provided by the Geolocation service is quick and general, so not as specific as GPS information, but perfect for applications that need to point to close by areas of interest or other geographical points/information without going into too many details. And once a user is back in GPS coverage, the application can call for more detailed information, if needed.

The Geolocation service joins existing capabilities in the Locate Service for the BlackBerry Application Platform, which include:

• Reverse geocoding capabilities enable applications to convert a user’s latitude and longitude to an address
• Integration with BlackBerry Maps Service offers a variety of app features, ranging from navigation directions to POI recommendations. BlackBerry Maps Service compliments Locate Service by providing map displays that can be invoked or embedded to indicate a user’s location

This is certainly great news for developers and BlackBerry users. These days, more and more applications seem to be relying on your GPS location data. To have a non intrusive, non power consuming way to access that data is huge. It does come with a few caveats however, you must have a device running OS 5.0+ and carriers need to support these capabilities. That said, most carriers allow this access already and well, if you're running a device with less then 5.0 you should really look into upgrading anyways.

• Click Here To Learn More About The New Locate Service And Developer API Availability>>

Before I get started with this article let me make on thing clear. I am not a Facebook user in any way. Time and time again reading through the forums and comments on the blogs when there are issues I have consistently noticed one trend that follows each an every single Facebook on BlackBerry article. If people are having issues they automatically attribute those issues to BlackBerry or Research In Motion directly. Everything from " This app is a POS, RIM should fix it" right down to "I will never use this garbage again, I'm buying a <insert device> because of this" I understand some of this thinking, I really do. It's a RIM developed application, installed on your BlackBerry it's only fair that you attribute issues with the app to BlackBerry or RIM in general.

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As Research In Motion continues their efforts to meet developers needs, they have just launched into beta the BlackBerry Developer Resource Center. As part of the BlackBerry forums, the BlackBerry Developer Resource Center will serve as a destination for all items pertaining to developer support resources information. From the announcement:

There are two major things we are looking to accomplish with the developer resource center.

First, we want to make it easier for you to find the right resources.  The resource center enables you to search by topic – regardless of the available resource format.  So now you can search for “networking” and find the relevant video, tutorial, knowledge base article, sample code and community support forum discussion.  All of these format types will now be available in a consistent article template.  Within the resource center, we have organized all of the content into specific topics which are consistent with the support forum boards (i.e. Java, Web, Themes, etc.).   When we release the full version of the resource center, the integrated search will also include product documentation resources.

Second, with the community’s help, we want to build the best set of resources for BlackBerry development.  One of the great things about the resource center is that it’s social.  You can comment on helpful resources – and we’re excited to announce that you will also be able to create and submit your content for publishing.  This can be done by leveraging existing support forum posts to create an article, embedding a video, or writing a new article from scratch.  The RIM® Developer Relations team will then review for technical accuracy and publish to the community.  Community generated content will soon be another way to earn recognition points as part of the Developer Recognition Program. Here’s more information on how to write and publish your own article.

Right now, Research In Motion is testing things out with this system. So if you are a developer you may want to have a look and join in on the action.

• Head On Over To The Developer Resource Center And Have A Look>>

Bellshare has released their latest version of BerryWeather. This update is a little different from the standard operations of an update however. Bellshare has decided it's high time they opened up their awesome Weather application for other developers to make use of the information it provides. Developers now have the option to use data from BerryWeather in their own applications.

One of the first apps to make use of this integration is Ultimate Lock, which was also updated to coincide with the new BerryWeather release. I'm quite certain as newer applications are released, quite a few other developers will be making use of the data BerryWeather can provide much like how theme developers are now requested in droves to include a dedicated weather slot in their themes. If you're a developer, you can read more about the BerryWeather 3rd party app access via the Bellshare forums.

• Click Here To Learn More And Download BerryWeather For $9.95 >>
• Click Here To Learn More And Download Ultimate Lock for $3.99 >>

When it comes to email any BlackBerry user will tell you that they love their BlackBerry smartphone for how fast they can get email. RIM has been doing "push" email for a long time now and has  become the leader in that area - No doubt about that. Only now is the smartphone market catching up to BlackBerry and it sure as heck still has a long way to go as of yet in the area of push.

As much as we love our push email and applications, with the recent outages I can't help but wonder if the strong point RIM has made with BlackBerry is also a weakness of the service. Think about this for a second. While other Platforms such as iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile do have some push capability for the most part, they also have "pull" capability at the same time built directly into their individual OS'. If the iPhone push services go down at any point, which they do, you can still pull your email into your device using your carrier data. The same goes with Android and Windows Mobile as well. The power of being able to pull email is not given to BlackBerry users due to the fact RIM is always touting the push benefits with email and even apps more and more.

BlackBerry users however, are well, kind of stuck for the most part. Sure you may be able to use the GMail application to check your GMail or your browser to access some other popular POP3 accounts, but that's assuming those items are working as well. As we know, some applications use RIM data services and some applications use your carriers data network. This area becomes fragmented as to which apps will work on your BlackBerry if there is a RIM outage. As RIM moves forward more and more with push applications, again I have to wonder, is push a benefit but also a hinderence to the the BlackBerry offerings at times? Should BlackBerry users have the ability to pull their data if they do so choose? Cast your vote and let us know, then sound off in the comments and tell me if you think I'm crazy or if you see my point.

Research In Motion (RIM) is becoming proactive when it comes to letting developers create applications for its BlackBerry device. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, RIM has recognized the need to expand the capabilities of the BlackBerry device beyond the usual push e-mail, messaging and phone functions.

RIM is hoping that by adding APIs (application programming interfaces) to the BlackBerry Java Development Environment, it will encourage the development of third-party applications for the Berry. These new APIs will encourage developers to access additional functions on the smartphones, including audio, messaging and mapping, in order to build social networking, location-based, multimedia and other forms of applications.

Developers can now insert custom made audio and video content into applications and use the BlackBerry media player. The new APIs support a variety of audio file formats including MP3, WAV, Windows Media Audio and Advanced Audio Coding.

With new consumer-oriented BlackBerries being released this year featuring an in-built camera, a new camera API will give developers the opportunity to build applications that can access pictures taken with the camera as well as applications that can receive notification when photos are taken.

In another example, developers can create custom mapping and location applications by using new APIs that provide access to information from a local GPS device and BlackBerry Maps.

RIM is also working on releasing additional APIs, including support for 3D graphics, MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) and SMS (Short Message Service).

According to a statement from RIM, “The BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE) includes APIs that enable integration with BlackBerry phones and applications. Today, more than 125,000 developers have downloaded the BlackBerry JDE and around 500 software organizations participate in the BlackBerry ISV Alliance, a program that supports software developers.”