For any of you that like beta testing apps through the BlackBerry Beta Zone things are about to get busy, because BlackBerry has just announced they are going to open up the Beta Zone to all developers as a way to test their apps. In fact as I’m writing this and looking in the Beta Zone app there are two beta apps already available, WeatherTrax from the Jared Company as well as WhatsApp.
Here’s the email BlackBerry has sent out:
We are pleased to announce that BlackBerry developers are now able to beta test their BlackBerry 10 apps through Beta Zone. Very soon you will start to see new “Third Party” beta programs available to you, which will be posted and fully managed by the developers themselves.
What do you need to know?
The process for participating in these beta programs remains the same, but all of your feedback will be submitted directly to the developers. Here are a few important things to note:
1. You can easily distinguish between a Third Party and a BlackBerry beta application by taking a look at the ‘Author’ of the download in the Beta Zone app – BlackBerry apps will have “BlackBerry” listed as the Author, while Third Party apps will have the BlackBerry World Vendor name listed, example: “OSBB”.
2. ‘Submit Feedback’ – After joining a Third Party beta program, you can contact the developer directly by using the ‘Submit Feedback’ form in the Beta Zone app. Be sure to select the appropriate beta program name from the “What is your feedback about?” dropdown, so that your feedback is sent to the correct developer.
Start testing!
We are quite excited about this and expect that it will go a long way towards improving the quality of the apps available to you in BlackBerry World. We hope that you too are just as excited as we are, and that you will provide developers with the same amazing level of support and quality feedback that you have provided to BlackBerry over the years.
As always, thank you for the continued support and happy testing!
As you can see joining the beta programs are the same as always. Just join the program you want, download the app, and start testing it out. Any bugs or suggestions you may have about the app goes straight to the developer.
This is definitely a plus for the Beta Zone, the developers, as well as all of us that like to test apps and I’m happy to see BlackBerry making this change. Be sure to hit up the comments below and share your thoughts and opinions about this change.