eBay application for BlackBerry leaves beta, heads to Australia and Europe

eBay and RIM this morning jointly announced that the free eBay Application for BlackBerry smartphones is now available through BlackBerry App World in six more countries: Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

The application is also now officially available to BlackBerry smartphone users in North-America after a beta preview period.

The eBay application supports BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS version 4.5 or higher. With the app, users can search, bid, buy and check their eBay buying and selling activity on the go.

The application leverages the BlackBerry Push Service to allow users to be wirelessly notified of the status of eBay listings in real-time. With alerts, eBay buyers can be notified when they have won an item or have been outbid, or if a listing on their Watch List is ending soon.

In addition, eBay sellers can be notified when a sale ends and will be provided with buyer information and the sale price.

EBay expects to generate $1.5 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2010 through its mobile platforms. The availability of the eBay app for BlackBerry smartphones in more countries aims to bring the company to this goal sooner rather than later. Already, eBay claims, over half of eBay’s mobile GMV comes from outside the United States.