A new feature called BlackBerry Tag was unveiled to the world at the GITEX conference in Dubai by RIM Co-CEO, Jim Balsillie. This software will soon be incorporated in BlackBerry smartphones running on the new BlackBerry 7 operating system.
Tag employs Near Field Communication (NFC) as the basis of operation. The technology is included in the recently released BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 models as well as the Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. These will be the first handsets to support the software.
Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at RIM explained, “Blackberry Tag is an exciting and innovative feature that makes sharing contact information and multimedia content effortless and seamless. BlackBerry Tag opens a new dimension to the BlackBerry platform that is powerful, simple and intuitive and we think it will be welcomed by both users and developers.”
This fresh software is scheduled to be integrated in the next BlackBerry 7 operating system update. It will enable users to share things like contact information, documents, URLs, pictures and other multimedia content by simply tapping their BlackBerry smartphones together. Through this feature they can also add other BlackBerry users as contacts on BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM as we know it.
At the conference, RIM also announced its plans to showcase BlackBerry Tag through APIs on the BlackBerry platform. This will enable software developers to take advantage of the ‘tap to share’ functionality from within their own applications.