RIM adds APIs for new types of applications

New APIs will allow developers to build social networking, mapping, audio/visual, and other types of applications for Blackberry handhelds

It looks like the Blackberry development environment will be shedding its business persona and adopting the trappings of the 24-hours lifestyle, where mobile devices are ego-centric (an extension of the 24-hour person), and not role-centric (a tool to help a person fulfill one specifice role). And what does an ego-centric device require? Music. Lots of music. Movies--full multimedia capability. And of course a camera. Email is already at the core of the Blackberry offering, but the new APIs will also embrace the textual bailiwick of mobile phones, SMS. Don't forget MMS. And why not enable GPS while we're at it?

The list of extensions being made available are numerous. Buy why? Because the competition offers them, of course. The allure of multi-function phones that have been offering all of the above have outstripped the need for, well, email on the road. I could debate the advantages of leaving my camera-enabled Zire (designed for the "home user" market) at home while bringing my Blackberry (designed for the "business attire" crowd) to the gym, for example, when I first noticed the "No Cameras Permitted" sign that appeared on the wall outside the locker room, just below and to the left of... a security camera. Have you tried to de-camera yourself lately? It's getting difficult as these devices become more pervasive as they become more commoditized. Have you checked out your daughter's teddy bear lately? If he's a model SCI-TB300, he might be recording.

Here's the rundown on API enhancements to help BlackBerryistas build more audio, messaging, and mapping, to build social networking, location-based, multimedia, and other kinds of applications."

• Audio formats: MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC
• pictures
• BlackBerry Messenger API for peer-to-peer messages
  
• GPS (local and/or external)
• BlackBerry Maps
• 3D graphics
• MMS
• SMS

Q. Will your company issue you a business communication device that enables an employee to play the latest video game while listening to ripped industrial MP3s?

Picture: Research in Motion Limited