RIM has quietly rolled out a beta for their software portal, BlackBerryApp World, which includes a few handy new features. The biggie is app gifting, something which RIM had talked about a long time ago, and is timely given the holiday season. Now you can request certain apps as a gift from BBM friends, as well as buy gifts for other BlackBerry users through the same mechanism. The content rating system introduced last week is also applied in this beta, so apps will get general, teen, mature, and adult ratings as needed. Finally there are a handful of smaller tweaks, such as connectivity when you’re only on Wi-Fi, and additional language localization for Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indonesia, Vietnamese, and Dutch.
The last big update for BlackBerry App World overhauled the entire user interface, though not much was functionally changed. As is, App World does a fair bit, including purchasing and sideloading apps through the browser, user ratings, in-app purchasing, subscriptions, sharing apps via BBM, and carrier, PayPal, and credit card billing. The only things that I’d really like to see from BlackBerry App World at this point is a promo code system and a referral program.
Personally, I would prefer to have an open app wishlist available for others to see on my profile, and if they’re feeling generous, they can buy me the app. Steam has a set-up like this, and it’s great. When you’re browsing through the catalog, you can see which of your friends have any given title on their list, and chose to buy it for them right there. RIM had previously mentioned that the gifting system would also be able to be used to purchase airtime through direct carrier billing, which is pretty cool. That way, parents would be able to keep their kids appropriately topped up while they’re away at college, but unfortunately, the feature isn’t live just yet. Head over to the BlackBerry Beta Zone to try out App World 3.1.