BlackBerry App World 3.0 is now available for download. It was expected to launch in August, but I suppose it’s better a little later than a lot late.

The new app store for BlackBerry applications supports BlackBerry OS 5.0 and up and offers a quick way to find, purchase, and install apps for BlackBerry phones and tablets.

The latest version brings a number of improvements, including

• A redesigned home screen with banners that rotate to show more highlighted apps
• New channels for apps, games, and themes
• Social sharing, allowing you to share apps from the details screen with your contacts on BBM, Facebook, Twitter, email, or SMS
• Manage your BlackBerry ID and payment information on your device
• Manage subscription content and receive notifications when a renewal payment is due

via @BlackBerry

Research in Motion has been beta testing an updated app store for BlackBerry devices for a few months. On Monday, August 22nd it will go public.

BlackBerry App World 3.0 features a number of improvements designed to make it easier to find new apps and manage the apps already installed on your device.

The home screen now features spotlighted apps and links to popular categories including Themes, Games, and Apps. The search bar is also more prominently displayed and you can sort results to see free apps, paid apps, recently updated apps or new apps.

RIM has also refined the detail pages for apps so that you can swipe from one screen to the next to read a description, see user reviews, or look at screenshots.

Users can also share apps using BBM, email, Twitter, or other services.

The new App World also includes a My World section that shows apps you’ve already purchased but which aren’t currently installed on your device. This makes it easy to re-download apps. That’s a feature Apple recently added to its App Store for iOS devices.

via n4bb

Want to start using the next version of the app store for BlackBerry phones? Just head on over the the BlackBerry Beta Zone and download BlackBerry App World 3.0. While Research in Motion isn’t ready to take the beta label off just yet, the new app store is available for anyone with a supported device to use starting today.

So what’s new in version 3.0? There’s a new home screen that features a prominent search bar, spotlight banners which take you to featured apps in certain categories, and icons for the most popular categories including Games, Apps and Themes. You can sort search results or category listings by free, paid, recently updated, or new.

The detail pages for apps also allow you to swipe between different views so you can quickly move from a summary description to screenshots or user reviews.

BlackBerry App World 3.0 also allows you to share apps via BlackBerry Messenger, Twitter, or other social apps, manage your app subscriptions, and manage your payment options.

Research in Motion is working on a major update for the BlackBerry App World. The new version of RIM’s app store for smartphone and tablet apps will have a new user interface, the ability to share apps with your BlackBerry Messenger contacts, and support for subscription-based content.

The subscription support will allow newspaper and magazine publishes to charge for 7 days or 30 days of access to digital content. It could also work with streaming music services or other apps which offer in-app purchasing capabilities.

BlackBerry App World 3.0 will also include a new search bar which resembles the universal search bar on the Blackberry home screen, support for carrier billing, and normalized prices between currencies.

via n4bb

Research in Motion announced today that the BlackBerry App World store for free and paid 3rd party BlackBerry apps is now available in 27 new markets, bringing the total to well over 100.

Some of the new markets include the Czech Recpublic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, and Sweden. You can find a full list at the Inside BlackBerry Blog.

There are more than 18,000 apps available to download and install directly from your phone. While that’s just a shadow of the number of apps available for Android and iOS, it’s more apps than you’ll currently find in the webOS or Windows Phone 7 app stores. And that’s not bad for a platform that’s really known best for its messaging and communications features rather than support for third party apps.

Google isn’t the only mobile software company bringing support for in-app purchases. Research in Motion has rolled out an updated version of the BlackBerry App World today, with support for in-app payments.

This will allow developers to offer free or paid apps and then charge users for additional content such as game levels, updates, music, or other content. Because the the in-app purchases are baked into the App World system, developers will be able to collect payments without taking your credit card information. Fees will just be added to your existing bill.

via PocketBerry

Research in Motion has started adding third party apps for the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to the BlackBerry App World store. While the PlayBook already has a lot going for it, including excellent multimedia and multitasking capabilities and security features for business users, the quality and selection of third party apps will be key in determining whether RIM’s tablet can compete with the Apple iPad and the gazillion Android tablets coming to market this year.

The folks at PlayBook Daily have been keeping tabs on some of the new apps for the platform. That includes a rather nice looking Kobo eBook app, a simple text editor called BluePad, a unit converter, and a queue manager for Netflix. There’s still no official Netflix app for the PlayBook, which means that you probably won’t be able to stream Netflix video to the tablet yet, but the third party queue manager is one of the nicest looking third party apps I’ve seen so far. To be honest, some of the other apps look a bit underwhelming, but the platform is still pretty young.

Other apps include a math flashcard game, Golf Quiz, a personal finance app, and a Bingo game.

via PocketBerry

Research in Motion has added the ability for BlackBerry users to install apps on their phone by visiting a web site in a desktop browser. The feature is part of the updated BlackBerry App World store for mobile apps.

The push to service requires a browser plugin which only works on Windows right now, so Mac and Linux can’t play. During the setup process you’ll have to sign in with your BlackBerry ID and connect your phone to your PC using a USB connection. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to push a download button on the web site to automatically download apps to your phone, whether it’s plugged in or not.

Google is expected to launch a similar service for Android phones, but right now the closest thing I can think of is the third party AppBrain market for Android phones which lets you install and uninstall apps from the web by running an AppBrain client on your mobile phone.

via Electronista and CNET