Research in Motion has officially launched BlackBerry Messenger 6. You can download it today from the BlackBerry App World. The latest version of BBM includes a number of improvements including battery location services and easier contact searching. But the biggest change is support for BBM connected apps.
BBM 6 allows third party developers to incorporate BlackBerry Messenger features into their apps. This makes a couple of things possible:
- When you use a BBM connected app it can update your BBM status. For instance, your earned Foursquare badges can show up in your BBM profile, or your high scores in a game.
- You can suggest apps or games that your BBM contacts might want to download, or invite your contacts to join you in a multiplayer game.
- Third party app developers can enable support for BBM chats within the app — so you can start chatting with your contacts without first launching BlackBerry Messenger.
At launch it looks like there are nearly two dozen apps which include BBM connected features. They’ll be marked in the App World with a “BBM connected” icon to make them easier to find.
