So, although Blackberry sales have declined relative to iPhone and Android, Blackberry remains a force in mobile, and tonight, Blackberry users can now Twitter from their devices using a dedicated app.

• Tweet and reply notifications
• List builder
• Profile editing
• Change app appearance
• Strong caching
• Push notifications
• Short URLs
• Auto updating

BGR is reporting that it's learned from "multiple trusted sources" that the company plans to introduce the Android version some time this year, with an app for iPhones available at some point as well. Details are still sketchy, says BGR, and while the app may be free, RIM could also charge users a fee (either a one-time or a recurring fee) to access the BBM service via other platforms.

BlackBerry nailed the real-time messing service, in many people's eyes, and BlackBerry users prefer its speed and efficiency over texting. Several other companies have tried to bring that same experience to other smartphones. Kik, most famously perhaps, delivered some of that same functionality - and brought it across platforms - before being blocked by Blackberry in November.

BGR surmises that the BBM app for Android and iPhone will be stripped down, offering the communication capabilities, but not the ability to share photos, videos and locations. Is that enough to convince consumers - Blackberry users or others - of the benefits of moving to or sticking with BlackBerry? It seems like a gamble. But as we've seen a number of new messaging apps pop up, it could be that RIM wants to remind everyone that it's a leader in the messaging space.

Earlier this month, Qik announced that it had added support for consumer-focused phones - generally falling outside the "smart phone" category - like the Nokia and Sony handsets. Now, Qik is making its way on to the handset that most business users carry: the BlackBerry. Well, some of them, at least.

This makes Qik available on the most popular handsets in the world - leaving it even more conspicuously absent from the Apple iPhone. (iPhone owners interested in using Qik are currently forced to jailbreak their iPhones to use the service.) The new Android phone, the G1, is also currently missing out on Qik support.

But today, a few lucky BlackBerry users get to test Qik functionality for themselves. Those BlackBerry who carry the supported handsets and are interested in testing the alpha software can visit Qik to download the application.

New support has been added for 22 new languages on Android, and 12 new languages on iOS. Facebook Messenger is already available on iPhone (including iOS5) and Android, and now it's available on BlackBerry. Beluga, the system behind Facebook Messenger, was supposed to be the BlackBerry Messenger for non-BlackBerries. In an ironic twist of fate, that system has made its way to BlackBerry through Facebook.

Now that this app has come to BlackBerry, will BlackBerry users start leaving BlackBerry Messenger for Facebook Messenger?

As with Facebook Messenger for iPhone and Android, the BlackBerry version brings in all of your Facebook conversations, making it easy to access everything from one place. The app stands alone. BlackBerry Messenger offers messaging with other BlackBerry Messenger-confirmed users only.

The announcement about Facebook Messenger came from Facebook engineer Lucy Zhang, ex-Googler and co-founder of the group messaging startup Beluga, which was acquired by Facebook in March, right before SXSW. As it expands, Facebook Messenger continues to build off Beluga's design - and this isn't the first time Beluga has been compared to BlackBerry Messenger.

Calling all BlackBerry users! Do you have BlackBerry Messenger? If so, would you be willing to switch to Facebook Messenger?

The service begins its launch in Spain through subscribers to Telefonica's Blackberry service plans. Later this year, Unite Servers will be made available to Germany and others, though no word on when they will arrive in North America.

Blackberry may arguably not be as cool as other smart phones anymore, but the people who use them tend to do so in an enterprise context. Their concerns are more around efficiency, ease and profitability than cool. Hootsuite's Blackberry client may offer them more than the device's native Twitter app.

Their new social relationship and support tools indicate Hootsuite's depth of commitment to enterprise, as IntoMobile reminds us.

To promote sales, Amazon will offer a Free Song of the Day and a Daily Deal album, which, like Amazon MP3's online counterpart at Amazon.com/MP3, will be priced very low. How low? Today's Daily Deal album is only $3.99, to give you an idea.

Social Sharing

Another feature in the new mobile music storefront is social sharing. Users can share their favorite songs via Facebook, Twitter, email, SMS, BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) or Social Feeds.

The service is integrated with the smartphone's features and functions, too, including Universal Search and Media Library.

To use the new Amazon MP3, users will need a BlackBerry smartphone running OS 5.0 or higher. If the device doesn't have internal memory, an SD card may be required. Interested users can download the app now from BlackBerry App World here.

At least one of our writers believes Blackberry may be paralleling a much loved, but dead, video game company. But what about you? Will you give Blackberry another try, now that you've seen BBX?

We asked you earlier today and we culled your responses from Facebook, Google Plus, the original post and Twitter and we used Storify to present it all back to you. If you have additional responses, please leave them in the comments.

But what looks most intriguing, though, is the banner image gracing the new site's homepage. It clearly shows a phone running the upcoming official Twitter application for Blackberry.

The official Blackberry Twitter application has been in a closed beta for over a month. From early reports, the app is shaping up well, and will include a number of features that rival (or top) those found in the current crop of third-party Blackberry Twitter apps. Features such as URL-shortening, photo-sharing, push messages, message list integration and filtered search by geo-location are among the app's included features.

More recently, a leak posted on a Polish-language blog hinted at other improvements, such as the ability to edit profiles, support for Twitter lists and, on devices running OS 6.0, some sort of Twitter/Blackberry contact sync, integration with the Configuration Wizard and integration with universal search.

Although RIM makes no mention of the Twitter app on the blog post announcing the Beta Zone, there's no doubt that as soon as the app becomes available for public beta tests, this will be the first place to find it. Those who previously signed up to be notified of the Twitter application's availability for beta testing will likely be directed to this new service.

Beta Users vs. App World Testers

To be clear, the new Blackberry Beta Zone does not replace the previously existing BlackBerry App World Test Center. That resource is designed for both RIM and third-party applications where as the Blackberry Beta Zone is for official RIM apps only. Also, the Beta Zone will feature applications much earlier into the development cycle. After first being tested via the Beta Zone, some RIM apps will appear later in the App World Test Center. 

Interested users can sign up to join the new Blackberry Beta Zone here. During the sign-up process, you'll be asked to identify what Blackberry smartphone you own and that response will affect what products and services are made available to you for testing purposes.

WhitePages Director of Monetization & Mobile, Bret Moore, said, "While we have seen tremendous success and uptake from our iPhone and Android apps as well as the newly relaunched m.WhitePages.com, we wanted to design something new with the power BlackBerry user in mind."

WhitePages rep, Tyler Roehmholdt, said, "The app has everything you'd expect in a WhitePages mobile app - the ability to search hundreds of millions of listings to find people and businesses on the go - as well as a number of great new features to help Blackberry users be even more efficient."

Check out this demo:

This rash of mobile apps from WhitePages is part of a major rebranding effort that targets not only the company's visual identity (very humanly chronicled in the WhitePages blog entries) but also the range of services and products they offer. We look forward to seeing what's next.

The Blackberry app is initially available on the BlackBerry Bold, with versions for Storm, Curve and Pearl to follow shortly. The price is $6.99 for six months of service.

The words of Seesmic's announcement make the company's rationale clear: the company is discontinuing support for Blackberry "in order to focus development efforts on our most popular mobile platforms: Android, iOS, and WIndows Phone 7."

Of course, this may just be one high-profile departure from that ecosystem, but there seems to be a sense that the RIM ship is sinking. At the same time, some analysts are predicting that Windows Phone 7 may see a large jump in adoption, and so focusing on that platform, along with Android and iOS would make sense.

The recommendations for Seesmic for Blackberry users, according to the company: "We encourage those effected by this change to try out Seesmic for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7." In other words, buy a new smartphone. Ouch.

BlackBerry Bridge is the PlayBook application that allows users to connect information on BlackBerry smartphones to the tablet and enables the use applications on the tablet through the phone such as email, contacts and calendar, all of which are not yet native to the tablet. The application can also, theoretically, be used for tethering the PlayBook to a cellular network through the smartphone's data plan since the first version of the tablet are Wi-Fi only.

Just in Time for PlayBook's Launch, New SDKs from RIM

Mixed Reviews for BlackBerry PlayBook, But Will It Be A Good Enterprise Device?
This is where AT&T probably had an issue with RIM. The carrier is not fond of letting consumers use its bandwidth on its network for free and that is precisely what the BlackBerry Bridge allows users to do. AT&T charges customers that want to use their smartphone data plans to tether to laptops and tablets $20 per month (as does Verizon).

In the past several months AT&T has been cracking down on users that have been working around the tethering fee, sending letters and text messages that say AT&T will automatically begin charging them the $20 fee if they do not stop using their smartphones as modems.

Without Bridge, the PlayBook loses a lot of its value. If there is one killer enterprise application for the BlackBerry tablet, it is the ability to ability to seamlessly transfer information from a BlackBerry phone. By blocking the application, AT&T has not just stopped users accessing its 3G network through the tablet but also from accessing functionality that RIM has said differentiates its tablet from other tablet devices on the market.

CrackBerry, the popular site dedicated to all things RIM, was the first to report the AT&T block. It has also posted a workaround for frustrated BlackBerry AT&T customers that, for now, seems to be working.

RIM has announced that it will release versions of the PlayBook in all the various "4G" (WiMax, HSPA+, LTE) flavors coming later this year but no launch date has been set. One official carrier partner - Sprint - has said it will partner with a WiMax version of the tablet, due sometime this summer.

The best part is that prizes are geared toward helping winners build success and recognition for their product. This includes marketing and promotional programs, featured placement on BlackBerry App World, and developer services from leading industry partners.

Now that your ears have perked up, here are the details: Your Super App will be judged on six characteristics, including the ability to run in the background, integrate with native BlackBerry apps, provide useful notifications and alerts, and more. You can enter if your app fits into one of the following seven categories: Productivity, Fun & Games, Knowledge, Sharing, Navigate & Explore, Multi-Media, or In The Know.

If you're sure you have a Super App in your possession, entering the contest is the easy part. Either click here, fill out a registration form, or if you're accepted into App World during the submission period, you'll receive an invitation to apply. Make sure you enter by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on September 6, 2010.
Additional details about the Super App Challenge, as well as the official rules, can be found on the BlackBerry Super App website.

Mobilizy announced today at the BlackBerry World conference that Wikitude, the augmented reality browser, would be coming preloaded on millions of BlackBerry devices.

Upon hearing the news, we immediately had two reactions. First, is this a step up for augmented reality? Does this represent a more mainstream adoption? Or is this simply a business deal and will BlackBerry users see this as bloatware on their devices?

You've likely run across AR before - in my experience it is one of the first things sought out, downloaded and boasted about by new smartphone users. Admittedly, I was one of those folks. In that same experience, AR is also one of the first things that these self-same new users abandon, as they realize that holding their phones up and looking through the camera is not only an inefficient way to find information, but it's silly looking, to say the least.

Will the inclusion of an AR browser on new BlackBerry phones change anything about the user experience? No, but it could change something about the general acceptance and impression of augmented reality on the smartphone.

What do you think - is the preloading of Wikitude a sign of things changing and the beginning of adoption? Or is it simply a business deal and something that users will still ignore, outside of bragging about how cool their new phone is to their friends?

And with good reason. For all the buzz about Google and Apple handsets, BlackBerry remains the dominant force in smart mobile devices. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that MySpace has released an application for the BlackBerry platform. What is surprising, however, is how long it has taken.

As Sarah asked in a previous review:

"This app is very much like the Facebook app for Blackberry, which was announced back in late 2007. Now, almost a year later, a MySpace version is planned. Why the holdup?"

Why indeed? Granted, developing for any new platform is a challenge. As is supporting multiple platforms on a single site. But, at first blush, the new BlackBerry app doesn't appear to be doing anything revolutionary. It seems to simply recreate a subset of the functionality found on the Web site. The only major difference being that it is formatted for the smaller screen.

And in reality, the development of the app - from the announcement of the MySpace and RIM partnership to the release - has actually been fairly short. Deciding to build the app - rather than the time it took to build the app - was definitely the gating factor. And that raises another question.

Why BlackBerry? Why Now?

The answer might be the most obvious one: the BlackBerry demographic is changing. In the past, the majority of BlackBerry users were interested in one thing: an easy way to read and respond to email. Even the phone seemed secondary.

Today, as more and more activities are being moved to mobile devices, BlackBerry has a much wider appeal - and it's not all business people. This new breed of BlackBerry users want to do more than respond to email. And RIM is working to make sure that they meet that demand, albeit in a "following rather than leading" fashion.

But are there really BlackBerry users on MySpace? There are a few. As of this writing, the number of BlackBerry friends is sitting at nearly 18,000 users. And the MySpace Mobile site - http://m.myspace.com - is seeing a very respectable 14 million monthly unique mobile visits, which is right in-line with numbers that Facebook mobile is seeing. If the BlackBerry app is actually meeting a need, we should see both of those MySpace numbers grow substantially over the next few months.

Still the question remains: why now? And how does this continued push to the mobile platform play into some of MySpace's latest revenue plans, like MyAds? The answers to those questions are still a little murky. We'll just have to wait and see how many BlackBerry friends Tom adds over the coming months.