RIM Updates BlackBerry Developer Tools

Latest Versions Further Support Innovative, Streamlined Mobile Application Development for BlackBerry Smartphones

Santa Clara, CA- BlackBerry Developer Conference - Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced new versions of various BlackBerry developer tools that further support innovative, streamlined mobile application development for BlackBerry® smartphones. The 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 Plazmic Content Developer’s Kit™ for the BlackBerry platform.

“RIM continues to support innovation on the BlackBerry platform by providing developers with robust tool sets that include new capabilities and the latest advances in mobile application development,” said Alan Brenner, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Platforms at Research In Motion. “Corporate, commercial and entrepreneurial developers have the flexibility to choose the right tool to support their skill set and feature requirements, whether they are mobilizing their organization’s business systems or creating new and innovative mobile applications for consumers.”

The developer tool updates, available today, include the following:

•BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse is designed for developers who want to create and test robust wireless applications for the BlackBerry platform from within the familiar Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

New features with this latest public beta include deeper integration with Eclipse and standard Java projects, pre-processing capabilities supporting a multi-build environment, support for the BlackBerry JDE component pack version 4.3.0 to version 4.7.0, and the ability to install updates of the BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse through the standard Eclipse software update mechanism. The plug-in is available for download at www.blackberry.com/developers.

•BlackBerry Plug-in 1.1 for Microsoft Visual Studio, enables enterprise developers to mobilize back-end enterprise systems by creating mobile applications from within the familiar Microsoft Visual Studio environment that take advantage of the features of BlackBerry® Mobile Data System (BlackBerry MDS). The BlackBerry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio features a visual user interface designer that enables developers to quickly create and customize user interfaces for their mobile applications using a visual drag-and-drop approach.

New features with version 1.1 include the ability to integrate customized mobile applications with core BlackBerry smartphone applications, as well as compatibility with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and Windows® Vista®. The plug-in is available for download at www.blackberry.com/developers.

•BlackBerry MDS Studio 2.0, which is available as a standalone application and as a standard plug-in for Eclipse, enables rapid application development for enterprise developers to mobilize back-end enterprise systems and takes advantage of the robust feature set of BlackBerry MDS. It features a visual user interface designer that enables developers to quickly create and customize user interfaces for their mobile applications using a visual drag-and-drop approach.

New features with BlackBerry MDS Studio 2.0 include support for collaborative development, fully integrated JavaScript debugging, hotkeys support, mobile application access controls and GPS location notifications. The new application and plug-in for Eclipse are available for download at www.blackberry.com/developers.

•Plazmic Content Developer’s Kit 4.6 (Plazmic CDK) for the BlackBerry platform is a suite of tools for graphical content designers that simplifies the creation of rich, interactive and colorful media for BlackBerry smartphones. This tool enables the creation of custom themes, including unique user interfaces, home screen icons, wallpaper graphics and fonts. It also optimizes rich media content for efficient delivery and use on BlackBerry smartphones.

New features with Plazmic CDK 4.6 include support for the BlackBerry® Bold™ and BlackBerry® Pearl™ Flip smartphones, and the ability to create animated content using Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) for use in themes, games, applications and web portals. The new version is available for download at www.plazmic.com.
As announced earlier this month, BlackBerry JDE v4.7 (which enables mobile application development for the BlackBerry® Storm™ smartphone) is available in public beta and BlackBerry JDE v4.6 (which enables mobile application development for the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphones) is generally available.

Mobile applications built for BlackBerry smartphones can leverage the market-leading features of the BlackBerry® platform, including efficient wireless connectivity, push technology, and best-in-class security.

Developers can visit www.blackberry.com/developers for the latest developer tools, as well as news, community forums, instructional videos, support, downloads, sample code, and other resources for mobile application development on the BlackBerry platform.