After the social networking giant unveiled Facebook Places for iPhone and iPod Touch users, it looks like Blackberry fans will now be able to utilize the social location feature without having to purchase an iOS device.
With that being said, I’m pleased to announce that Facebook Places is now available on BlackBerry smartphones. The final release of Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v1.9 will be available for download in BlackBerry App World™ (North America only) within the next 24 hours!
Facebook Places uses cell tower triangulation and the GPS technology on your BlackBerry smartphone to find places of interest close to your location. You can view the location of a Facebook Place on a map to see exactly where it is and check out the surrounding area. You can also get directions to and from a Facebook Place simply by clicking on the map image, which will seamlessly launch the BlackBerry® Maps application. (Inside Blackberry)
Unlike the Facebook iOS and Android Apps, Facebook for Blackberry is maintained by Research In Motion (aka RIM) and not the social networking giant (who like Twitter doesn’t devote corporate resources to the device).
Unfortunately there still isn’t any word on when RIM will expand the feature beyond the continental borders of America, although that may have more to do with Facebook beta testing in Europe than RIM itself.
While Facebook Places is a welcome addition to the Blackberry smartphone, hopefully the company will be able to add a few additional features like Facebook Deals in the near future (the latter which is available to iOS users).
