New RIM Android Advertising Campaign!

**xsacha** · 10-17-2011, 11:08 PM

RIM is targeting Android developers in a new campaign.

This link is posted as an advertisement all over forums and news websites:
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/bpaa/
(Note: Click the links up the top like 'Tools', 'Documentation' and 'API Support')

You give them your apk, they package it as a bar.

It asks you for your email and asks that you already have code-signing keys. Then it installs a Java applet and asks you to send your apk. Then it tells you how 'compatible' your apk is with the Playbook. Then it allows you to package your apk as a bar.

**californiablackberry** · 10-17-2011, 11:14 PM

Interesting how Blackberry uploaded it, but the video is unlisted.

**xsacha** · 10-17-2011, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by californiablackberry

Interesting how Blackberry uploaded it, but the video is unlisted.

Yeah it says unlisted video up the top. Is that a new thing?

Anyway, this is cool:
Get the Runtime

Enable your PlayBook for the BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0 beta that includes the Android runtime environment.

Register now

**skyscraper04** · 10-17-2011, 11:24 PM

i thought this has been done 4 months ago.really RIM you are going to release android player?

**moe1up** · 10-17-2011, 11:35 PM

I wonder what other videos are private.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

**greatwiseone** · 10-17-2011, 11:41 PM

very interesting...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

**billybobjaramillo** · 10-18-2011, 12:03 AM

Looking deeply on the site I found a lot of the limitations of the Android Player and well the apps are going to be real basic. No way any real games are happening
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/...oid/apisupport

**jeffcrn** · 10-18-2011, 12:11 AM

Well it looks like they made it pretty dang easy for the Android Devs to port there apps over. This is a good thing, for consumers and the devs. The developer spends a few hours signing up and submitting and such, and his app is in another Market ready to sell to the consumer.
I wonder if you could just sign up and submit any apk and convert it? Not that I would condone stealing someone else work and trying to sell it in the BB App World, but just to test it out. I would love to take a todo app that syncs with toodledo and just run it through the process for kicks.

**greatwiseone** · 10-18-2011, 12:11 AM

Originally Posted by billybobjaramillo

Looking deeply on the site I found a lot of the limitations of the Android Player and well the apps are going to be real basic. No way any real games are happening
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/...oid/apisupport

No multi-touch? that's crazy. I hope these limitations are only for launch and support for these features are added later....

**ferganer** · 10-18-2011, 12:13 AM

Thanks for the info. I just sent this to Engadget. I hope they will post this on their site which will surely get Android developers' attention better.

**grncherry1** · 10-18-2011, 12:19 AM

I must have missed something, a few months ago Android was a nasty word around here and now it is seen as the saving grace for the PB. What happened? I guess IOS apps will be all of a sudden acceptable in a few months too.

**billybobjaramillo** · 10-18-2011, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by greatwiseone

No multi-touch? that's crazy. I hope these limitations are only for launch and support for these features are added later....

That is what hit me the most out of all the limitations. But with no Camera nor accelerometer not a single decent up will show up.

**jeffcrn** · 10-18-2011, 12:34 AM

Originally Posted by grncherry1

I must have missed something, a few months ago Android was a nasty word around here and now it is seen as the saving grace for the PB. What happened? I guess IOS apps will be all of a sudden acceptable in a few months too.

There are some damn good iOS apps out there too. What's wrong with wanting more quality apps, regardless of where they come from? Should we be hiding in the attic from the BlackBerry Gestapo force, clutching our PlayBooks afraid to look at an Android app?
If a guy manages to make a few bucks selling something he already has, all it does is open the door for him/her to seriously consider the PlayBook as a platform to work on, an option that may not have been appealing previously.

**Tre Lawrence** · 10-18-2011, 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by grncherry1

I must have missed something, a few months ago Android was a nasty word around here and now it is seen as the saving grace for the PB. What happened? I guess IOS apps will be all of a sudden acceptable in a few months too.

LOL. When the App Player leaked it was a feeding frenzy...

**xsacha** · 10-18-2011, 12:38 AM

Originally Posted by grncherry1

I guess IOS apps will be all of a sudden acceptable in a few months too.

Mate, if you could run iOS apps flawlessly on another platform there would be absolutely 0 reason to use iOS in any way.

There's nothing iOS, as an OS, does well compared to competing OS (QNX, Meego, WP7, ..).
It's all about their high quality apps which devs seem to especially fine-tune and then just port/dump on other platforms.

**Michelle Haag** · 10-18-2011, 12:53 AM

Originally Posted by ferganer

Thanks for the info. I just sent this to Engadget. I hope they will post this on their site which will surely get Android developers' attention better.

Yeah, heaven forbid you tip CRACKBERRY or ANDROID CENTRAL.

**jeffcrn** · 10-18-2011, 12:54 AM

Getting back to the original topic, I'm all for anything RIM can do to attract developers and get more quality apps into the BB App World. There are so many "standard" apps that people use everyday that need to make an appearance. Skype, To-Do apps that sync with online services, apps that work alongside Google services and so forth. My wish list would include Pocket Informant, 1Password, eWallet, Google+, Netflix, LinkedIn, Opus Domini ( a really nice Mac app) and a good financial app that syncs with something all ready available. If I had those apps on my PB I would put my iPad2 on ebay the same day.

**grncherry1** · 10-18-2011, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by xsacha

Mate, if you could run iOS apps flawlessly on another platform there would be absolutely 0 reason to use iOS in any way.

There's nothing iOS, as an OS, does well compared to competing OS (QNX, Meego, WP7, ..).
It's all about their high quality apps which devs seem to especially fine-tune and then just port/dump on other platforms.

Ok, now I get it. It has gone from "who needs apps" to, "any app will do". I was under the impression that the App World was going to be flooded with BB apps when the PB was released. I owned BBs for years but the sameness and itty bitty screens ran me away.

**Bla1ze** · 10-18-2011, 01:27 AM

As cool as it is, these videos are being played right now in the App Express area at DevCon where registration opened up today for Android developers.

**taylortbb** · 10-18-2011, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by billybobjaramillo

Looking deeply on the site I found a lot of the limitations of the Android Player and well the apps are going to be real basic. No way any real games are happening
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/...oid/apisupport

My opinion as a developer looking at those restrictions, games are going to be one of the least impacted categories of apps. Basically the limitations are with deep system integration, which while useful is rarely a feature of games. The only one restrictive to games is the lack of support for the Android NDK. However, the Tablet OS NDK should fill that void as the platform similarities will make porting very easy. The only issue would be games that are a Java/NDK hybrid, but that's a pretty unusual way to create a game.

**chrism_scotland** · 10-18-2011, 03:09 AM

I notice in the list of Unsupported Media API it lists Bluetooth A2dp, is this an indicator that bluetooth earphones are still not going to work with the Playbook? That would be annoying.

**batboris** · 10-18-2011, 03:37 AM

Originally Posted by billybobjaramillo

Looking deeply on the site I found a lot of the limitations of the Android Player and well the apps are going to be real basic. No way any real games are happening
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/...oid/apisupport

Who cares about the Android games? I want Skype!

EDIT: Reading the list ... Skype doesn't look closer at all ...

**Superfly_FR** · 10-18-2011, 03:43 AM

Originally Posted by grncherry1

I must have missed something, a few months ago Android was a nasty word around here and now it is seen as the saving grace for the PB. What happened? I guess IOS apps will be all of a sudden acceptable in a few months too.

No it is still a cul-de-sac for me, as a tool. BUT this is a "Siri-like" marketing thing. Just talk about, say its fantastic, blahblah.

To me it's mainly a mandatory turn, to convince developers to have a look and then, if they want to go further ... use RIM's native SDK. For the public it could be a "the best of the two (others) world(s)" like ... but may be very deceptive ... warning ... warning ... hot potato here.

**Superfly_FR** · 10-18-2011, 03:44 AM

Originally Posted by chrism_scotland

I notice in the list of Unsupported Media API it lists Bluetooth A2dp, is this an indicator that bluetooth earphones are still not going to work with the Playbook? That would be annoying.

These are the limitations of the Android player ... not of PB OS2

, hopefully !

**chrism_scotland** · 10-18-2011, 03:54 AM

Originally Posted by Superfly_FR

These are the limitations of the Android player ... not of PB OS2

, hopefully !

I hope so! I've got a Playbook in my shopping basket ready to hit "order" but bluetooth audio is a biggie for me... that said my Bold 9900 does it so I could just use that for music anyway!