App Store Wars

[ampos]

This picture is... interesting (perhaps you should click on it to get it bigger)



So, next GLBasic target should be... BB?

[Ian Price]

Interesting

[hardyx]

Android is growing very fast.

[erico]

nice

[blackway]

I love this kind of information....
Thanks Ampos! 

[jboadas]

In my country the most popular smartphone is BlackBerry and each smartphone cost about 697 USD

[Hatonastick]

What do they write Blackberry apps in?  Java?

[Kitty Hello]

Yes. I have no idea about the newer versions, though. I might have heard rumors that they have a C++ SDK now.

[Hatonastick]

I like my Nokia C6, but I have been eyeing the one and only Blackberry they sell at our local shopping centre.

[jboadas]

The new blackberry playbook tablet can be programmed on c++ but everything else use java (I really dont like java ). all the revolt here about the blackberry is because the "pin" is an id used for chat in groups share videos, photos, etc.

[turnerb]

The Playbook 2.0 OS with the NDK (Native Developement Kit) looks very promising.  I would love to see GLBasic run on the Playbook, which would eventually run on the new BBX for phones.  I do believe RIM still has more than a fighting chance.  I know I can not get my wife to consider anything but Blackberry, even as she has seen the rest of us go through Apple, Android, and Palm phones, and I have to admit her new 9930 Bold is really a piece of work, build quality like a Lexus, and nothing like my Motorola Android phone.

A quote from the announcement... Ideaworks Game Studio President Alex Caccia said that the porting Marmalade was incredibly easy--characterizing it as complex as pushing a "convert" button.

If you could get GLBasic to compile and run on Blackberry BBX, that would really be awesome!  I do think that you need to make sure you have Android fully covered before going after Blackberry, but the claim is that developers on Blackberry make a good deal of money...

From RIM:

-- The BlackBerry App World is the second most profitable app market place today, next to Android.
-- There are now 70 million BlackBerry users, compared with 50 million a year ago.
-- BlackBerry App World is available in 130 countries, and it supports more than 26 currencies.
-- There have been more than one billions apps downloaded;140 million apps are downloaded each month; and 5 million downloads are happening each day.



Native SDK - Content Rich, Fast and Smooth Running Applications

RIM also announced today the immediate availability of the Native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook (1.0 gold release). The Native SDK allows developers to build high-performance, multi-threaded, native C/C++ applications and enables developers to create advanced 2D and 3D games and other apps with access to OpenGL ES 2.0 and Open AL, as well as device specific APIs. Applications developed with the Native SDK will run today on the BlackBerry PlayBook and will be forwardly compatible on BBX-based tablets and smartphones.

The Native SDK includes support for C/C++ POSIX library and compliance, device events like gesture swipes and touch screen inputs, access to code management systems using industry standard Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tools) and advanced debug and analysis tools. QNX Momentics Tool Suite, an Eclipse-based integrated development environment, is included. It provides memory profiling, application debugging, and memory usage statistics to help developers debug sophisticated programs, including hardware accelerated OpenGL applications.

The Native SDK makes the development and porting of game applications to the BlackBerry PlayBook an extremely attractive proposition for developers. Well known game publishers, developers and major game engine companies have already started to bring their game titles and applications to the platform.

[Kitty Hello]

I need a test device then... 

[turnerb]

Yes, you need a Playbook!  I almost bought one a couple of weeks ago when they were selling for $299 (http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/29/best-buy-kicks-off-playbook-sale-cuts-prices-by-200/), but I did not jump on it, and now I don't have one.  the 7" tablet always seemed a bit small to me, especially compared to my HP Touchpad.  They do have an emulator (When it comes to testing your application, you can test it using a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet or the BlackBerry Tablet Simulator. )  They don't require you to do any registration until you want to actually publish an app.  You can see everything at http://us.blackberry.com/developers/.  Its a pretty compelling story they have, especially for developers that want to focus on emerging markets where Blackberry is still selling welll.  I especially like the stat that the top 13% of their developers are making over $100,000 per year.

I would review the liveblog athttp://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/blackberry-devcon-americas-2011-keynote-liveblog/?sort=newest&refresh=0 for more information.

Thanks