BlackBerry enables in-app purchases as well as balance between work and life!

Research In Motion introduced its BlackBerry Payment Service, enabling developers to monetize their software via in-application purchase options.

According to RIM, BlackBerry App World developers can offer in-app digital goods including content such as ebooks, magazines, and photos, as well as other services like video streaming or voice transcription.

However, RIM does not allow BlackBerry developers to sell virtual currencies or in-app credits, physical goods or services, and digital goods used across multiple applications.

In other news, RIM is giving BlackBerry users work-life Balance through their new feature, BlackBerry Balance.

Research In Motion will allow its handset owners to split work and personal data stored on the devices using this new feature.

The decision to separate work-related emails sent using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) from personal photographs, social networking activity and web browsing is BlackBerry’s bid to stay competitive in both the business and consumer markets.

Balance is expected to make its debut onto handsets in North America in the next two months, but there is no indication of a wider release yet.

It is expected to be available on all BlackBerry devices in the future, including the company’s as-yet unreleased PlayBook tablet.

The BlackBerry handset maker, RIM is looking at potentially buying Gist, an app that manages a users’ professional contacts in a “social inbox” style, based on GigaOm report.

This purchase would be the second most recent acquisition made by RIM for the purpose of improving the user experience; as earlier this month, RIM bought The Astonishing Tribe, a user interface specialist based in Sweden.  

Gist’s social inbox management tool unifies a users’ contacts and allows them to organize the various feeds of information coming through. Since RIM’s main focus has always been on how businesses communicate and network, this feature would definitely fit their target users.

If this acquisition goes through, it’ll be a great fit for RIM, given Gist’s focus on enterprise users. Also, as RIM is currently facing greater competition in the market than ever before, this acquisition, along with PlayBook’s launch will carry them through the year.  Only time will tell what the playing field will look like in the upcoming months.