[1]Digiflare Inc. [1], a multi-office digital agency that creates connected user experiences across multiple screens, has announced the launch of seven applications for BlackBerry 10 smartphones that are now available for download on the BlackBerry® World™ storefront. Designed for BlackBerry’s highly anticipated BlackBerry 10 new platform, the apps created by Digiflare include: AFP News, CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, The Globe News, theScore, Sportsnet, TuneIn, and YellowPages.ca.
“To be in on the ground-floor for the launch of an innovative platform like BlackBerry 10 marks a pivotal juncture for Digiflare,” said Munish Taneja, Business Development Manager at Digiflare. “It will be a momentous year ahead for BlackBerry and we’re honoured to play our part, creating great user experiences for people to enjoy on their BlackBerry 10 smartphones.”
For Lanny Geffen, Creative Director of User Experience at Digiflare, the redesigned platform offers previously unexplored opportunities to focus on the needs of the user. “BlackBerry 10 is an exciting platform that opens up new paradigms for engaging users. We ensured that all of our BlackBerry 10 apps take full advantage of the unique User Interface features that will empower users to have a more satisfying and immersive experience with their BlackBerry 10 smartphones.”
Some of the apps Digiflare created (and their respective download links) include:
- AFP News [2]: gives users instant access to real time news occurring around the globe, all with AFP’s world renowned reporting and award winning photojournalism. “AFP delivers fast, accurate, in-depth coverage of the events shaping our world from wars and conflicts to politics, sports, entertainment and the latest breakthroughs in health, science and technology” said David Millikin, Executive Director for AFP North America. “Digiflare has produced a terrific news app for the BlackBerry 10 platform; it’s fast, beautiful and perfect for anyone who wants to stay on top of the essential news happening around the world.”
- The Globe News [3]: helps readers stay informed on-the-go with the full range of content available from The Globe and Mail, including award-winning news, lifestyle features, investment advice, sports headlines, photo galleries, and more.
- Hockey Night in Canada [4]: To mark the 60th season of the iconic television program, CBC is continuing to engage its loyal fan base in all ways and on all platforms including a BlackBerry 10 app for Hockey Night in Canada, the home of hockey. Staying connected to the latest hockey news, highlights and scores has never been easier. “The Hockey Night in Canada app for BlackBerry 10 allows us to connect with our fans on yet another platform, giving them everything necessary to stay informed and enjoy the sport, right at their fingertips,” said Julie Bristow, Executive Director, Studio and Unscripted Programming, CBC-TV. “With Digiflare, we were able to customize the user experience, creating an inviting app that leverages the full range of features that the BlackBerry 10 platform has to offer.”
- theScore [5]: completely re-designed for BlackBerry 10 to give users the ultimate mobile sports experience. Get news, stats, and scores for all of your favorite sports teams and players from the biggest leagues in the world. “We are very excited to have partnered with Digiflare to deliver our loyal BlackBerry users a much anticipated update to our top ranked sports app,” said Jonathan Savage, VP of Products at theScore Inc. “theScore for BlackBerry 10 has a clean and modern interface which provides users a significantly enhanced user experience.”
- TuneIn [6]: listeners can hear the world’s music, sports, news, talk and comedy streaming from every continent. “We enjoyed working with Digiflare to ensure a great listening experience for the BlackBerry community and look forward to any new collaboration opportunities to bring the world’s radio to even more people,” said Carl Rohling, VP of Business Development at TuneIn.
- YellowPages.ca [7]: allows users to lookup residential and business phone numbers, perform reverse telephone look-up, or use built-in GPS to locate businesses or people near them. “Through our YellowPages.ca mobile app, we provide Canadians with access to the largest and most comprehensive database of local business information in Canada,” said Matthieu Houle, Director, Digital Consumer Experiences at Yellow Pages Group. “Digiflare has helped us bring the same rich experience to the BlackBerry 10 platform. This enables us to continue growing the exposure and reach of the local businesses advertising with us and help people find everything from their neighbourhood businesses to goods and services across Canada.”
“We are delighted to see Digiflare engage with many top brands to deliver high quality applications for BlackBerry 10,” said Martyn Mallick, Vice President of Global Alliances and Business Development at BlackBerry. “Digiflare has invested in becoming experts on the BlackBerry 10 platform to deliver deeply integrated applications with a compelling user experience to our customers.”
Jean-Luc David, Chief Technical Officer at Digiflare, highlights the multifaceted nature of the operating system, saying “BlackBerry 10 is a very versatile platform that allows us to be productive as it supports a wide variety of runtimes and languages. We were able to quickly create amazing experiences for our customers and we look forward to building more innovative apps in the future.”