BlackBerry Apps to get Push functionality

7digital one of the first to use new features

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4 May 2009 23:44 GMT / By Stuart Miles

RIM has announced that it will let developers creating Apps for its devices use its push technology, starting with an announcement from music download store 7digital.

The news, which is clearly aimed at convincing developers that it's a platform worth developing for, means apps could feature the ability to have information pushed to users automatically, rather than users having to manually request information.

7digital, which is already working with RIM on the new feature plans to allow users to buy music on the go, is automatically replaced with high quality versions when the user returns home via Wi-Fi Auto-Sync.

According to the two companies, 7digital will use the new push feature to ensure that purchases the user makes on 7digitial.com are automatically delivered to their BlackBerry smartphone.

"It brings immediacy to mobile communications with real-time content, preserves battery life, and minimizes data usage by eliminating the need for “poking” and “polling” servers", said the company in a statement.

Although the push technology has previously been available to corporate developers with the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, it is the first time the company has opened up the technology to consumers.

“With the availability of this push API, BlackBerry developers can build true push technology into their Java-based consumer applications and enhance the user experience by delivering valuable content to users in real time", claimed Alan Brenner, senior vice president for the company's BlackBerry Platforms department.

The news comes as RIM announced the availability of the latest BlackBerry Enterprise Server edition, version 5.0. The new version promises to support advanced IT administration features and smartphone controls that help "improve the productivity of mobile workers and more effectively meet the demands of large-scale, mission critical enterprise deployments".