Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), the creator of the ubiquitous BlackBerry smartphone, has been under pressure to increase the number of apps available for its PlayBook tablet. Over the last few months, RIMM has been making acquisitions in the app developer space, with the most recent being announced on June 7th. The Globe and Mail reports:

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has acquired German social game developer Scoreloop in a bid to boost development of social and collaborative gaming applications for its devices.

RIM says on its developer’s blog that Scoreloop will help its developer community “take gaming to a new level of social integration” on BlackBerry platforms.

Moconews expands on this to explain that, rather than simply making games that have social elements, Scoreloop makes a Software Developers' Kit (SDK) that allows other developers to more easily create socially-enhanced games:

Scoreloop—which currently works across multiple platforms, from BlackBerry to iOS and Android—provides an SDK for games developers to add more social elements into their content—for example, creating community interaction. It also offers them ways of incorporating in-app purchases and virtual currency, among other revenue-generating services.

But it is not entirely clear yet how extensively Scoreloop will continue to support other platforms besides those that RIM uses for its own devices: these include BlackBerry, QNX on the PlayBook and Android—in the form of Android apps that will be usable on PlayBook tablets.

“We’ll continue our cross-platform approach,” writes Marc Gumpinger, Scoreloop’s CEO, on a message on its own site. “But you’ll see that our BlackBerry solution will be unparalleled.” Fittingly, the note from Gumpinger is placed on a PlayBook screen.

The Inside Blackberry Developer's Blog puts this in the context of other actions RIMM has taken to allow developers to improve the social aspect of their apps:

We have recently enabled our developers to create social app experiences through our BBM™ Social Platform and have seen some very innovative applications result from that. We look forward to working with the team at Scoreloop to provide tools that will further enable our developer community to take gaming to a new level of social integration on the BlackBerry platform.

Covestor models that hold RIMM as of 6/7 include:

• Eagle Portfolio by Green Valley Wealth
• Identifying Turning Points by Targex Capital
• Diversified Buybacks by David Fried
• Bluenose by GEARS

RIMM Chart as of 6/7, StockCharts.com

Sources:

"RIM buys social game maker Scoreloop" The Globe and Mail, 6/7. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/business-technology/rim-buys-social-game-maker-scoreloop/article2050227/

"RIM Buys Scoreloop To Grow In House Social Gaming Expertise" Ingrid Lunden. Moconews, 6/7. http://moconews.net/article/419-rim-buys-scoreloop-to-grow-in-house-social-gaming-expertise/

"RIM Welcomes Scoreloop" Inside Blackberry Developer's Blog. 6/7. http://devblog.blackberry.com/2011/06/rim-welcomes-scoreloop/

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