RIM is rolling out an update to their signature instant messaging client, BlackBerry Messenger, which aims to spread BBM-connected apps in a few ways. There’s now a menu item to open up the App World category which includes all applications that have some kind of BBM integration. When using those apps, content can be shared to other users even if they don’t have the app. The update also enables sharing to BBM 5.0 users, including pointing friends to new apps, and chatting from within BBM-connected apps.
BBM Social, the development framework used by app-creators to plug into BlackBerry Messenger, is still a relatively unique proposition, and keeps RIM slightly ahead of the new breed of copycats, like iMessage. While I’m still not particularly interested in getting roped into a mobile-exclusive social network, app connectivity certainly adds a lot of value to the proposition. RIM might be able to win over imaginative developers who create unique use cases for BBM, but it will be a hard sell if they still can’t get it into their next-generation operating system by February.
If you don’t get the update notification for 6.0.1, you can find BBM in the BlackBerry App World.