RIM gives enterprise app developers new tools

Blackberry maker RIM has launched a host of new enterprise and consumer developer tools to streamline Blackberry smartphone application development.

The Blackberry developer tool updates include a new public beta of the Blackberry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse, as well as new releases of the Blackberry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio, Blackberry MDS Studio, and the Plazmic Content Developer's Kit for the Blackberry platform.

Alan Brenner, senior vice-president of Blackberry Platforms, said, "Corporate, commercial and entrepreneurial developers have the flexibility to choose the right tool to support their skill set and feature requirements, whether they are mobilising their organisation's business systems or creating new and innovative mobile applications for consumers."

In addition, with the introduction of the Blackberry Web Signals technology, content providers can now push notifications to Blackberry smartphones and enable streamlined mobile access for their customers.

Blackberry Web Signals uses RIM's push technology to allow online content providers to automatically notify Blackberry smartphone users when relevant content has been published and to allow streamlined, one-click access to the online information.

With online content services powered by Blackberry Web Signals, said RIM, Blackberry smartphone users can spend less time searching the web and more time connecting directly to the content that matters to them personally.

RIM said content providers will offer a range of services powered by Blackberry Web Signals that enable customers to stay connected with news, weather, sports, entertainment, and financial information, for instance.