- Have you LOOKED at the apps for, say, the iPhone? I have an iPhone. 99.995% of the apps are pure crap. For every really good one there are hundreds of mediocre or just plain stupid and useless apps. How many flashlights, BMI index, fart noise, and other pointless time wasters do we need?
I also had a Droid for a short time. Same story there. Crap apps vastly outnumber worthwhile software. Probably because they are very easy to code. Quality software takes a skill level you're not going to find in the thousands of flashlight and noisemaker coders. So there are fewer programmers capable of making a good app than a crap app which also affects the availability of good apps.
We are seeing crap apps in about the same proportion on the PB. Heck, we see them in the same proportion on the BB smartphones! The reason they are so obvious on the PB is because there are so few apps right now and the fact that so many are crap sort of jumps out at you.
There are a few gems out there, and the apps will pick up as the PB gets rolling. Don't forget the iPad is second generation already. There has been lots of time to build apps. The PB is brand new.
The PB seems to me to be the superior hardware/OS platform. Patience should pay off. Meanwhile the early adopters are going through the growing pains.05-25-11 08:52 AMLike 0 - Have you LOOKED at the apps for, say, the iPhone? I have an iPhone. 99.995% of the apps are pure crap. For every really good one there are hundreds of mediocre or just plain stupid and useless apps. How many flashlights, BMI index, fart noise, and other pointless time wasters do we need?
I also had a Droid for a short time. Same story there. Crap apps vastly outnumber worthwhile software. Probably because they are very easy to code. Quality software takes a skill level you're not going to find in the thousands of flashlight and noisemaker coders. So there are fewer programmers capable of making a good app than a crap app which also affects the availability of good apps.
We are seeing crap apps in about the same proportion on the PB. Heck, we see them in the same proportion on the BB smartphones! The reason they are so obvious on the PB is because there are so few apps right now and the fact that so many are crap sort of jumps out at you.
There are a few gems out there, and the apps will pick up as the PB gets rolling. Don't forget the iPad is second generation already. There has been lots of time to build apps. The PB is brand new.
The PB seems to me to be the superior hardware/OS platform. Patience should pay off. Meanwhile the early adopters are going through the growing pains.
Unfortunately playbook is competing with devices with established app markets and therefore people "compare", Often we will hear ios has 5.7 trillion apps but not how many quality apps there are; so to the average consumer that is a big deal.
Also placing the playbook in the same boat as ipod/pad, etc is not doing justification to the qnx. You expect much more powerful app in the playbook where in practice some of the most basic apps are "still" missing and therefore it is "still" disappointing.05-25-11 09:49 AMLike 0 -
- For me it's not the number of apps that matters. Nor do I care how many "quality apps" there are either as that is a matter of perception. What I care about is the approval process. I know that there are applications that will fulfill all of my needs awaiting approval. In fact they have been awaiting approval since launch. That for me is getting to the point where it's unacceptable. I WANT to stay with RIM on this, but I am starting to lose confidence.
In addition to the argument about "apps" there should also be an argument for what is natively on the device. If RIM does not want to be the developer for the native applications then they need to move the ball quickly and accept those applications that third party developers make for the device. They have FAILED at this. I have read in various posts that they simply open the app to ensure that it functions then if theres no issues they approve it. If this is indeed true then we should see many more apps approved on a daily basis.
Again, I don't care for quantity, but when some of those applications that are needed to make the device complete are held up for over a month there is an issue. I don't know what the approval process looks like for Android or Apple, but I am certain that it can't be as mysterious as RIM's is.
I am also researching Windows 7 Slates (not the best idea as Windows 7 wasn't designed specifically for tablet use, oh it works, but it's not perfect). At least in that arena I know for a fact that if someone wants to develop something for the platform they can deploy it almost immediately.
Finally as for the "early adopter" argument. I believe it's gone on too long. I expect there to be bugs and some missing apps. I don't expect a barrier to applications development. I am sure that there are many that will defend RIM on this one, but from a corporate perspective I say they are failing. Companies must be more nimble than ever and as I sit and watch what RIM is doing they look like a giant snail in the middle of 10 lane highway. I understand they are great with security, but also keep in mind that the world of IT is changing as well. IT is generally a snail, but it is begining to get it's legs as companies are starting to see that IT does not just have to be a drain on the bottom line.
With all that said I will stick it out a short time longer as I made the decision to make RIM's products the only supported devices in my enterprise. I made that decision believing that RIM had changed a bit and was going to catch up. I will give them a few more months as there are promises that they have made that I'd like to see if they can keep.05-25-11 10:35 AMLike 0 -
-
Finally as for the "early adopter" argument. I believe it's gone on too long. I expect there to be bugs and some missing apps. I don't expect a barrier to applications development. I am sure that there are many that will defend RIM on this one, but from a corporate perspective I say they are failing. Companies must be more nimble than ever and as I sit and watch what RIM is doing they look like a giant snail in the middle of 10 lane highway. I understand they are great with security, but also keep in mind that the world of IT is changing as well. IT is generally a snail, but it is begining to get it's legs as companies are starting to see that IT does not just have to be a drain on the bottom line.05-25-11 11:34 AMLike 0 - because people are stupid and to many of them need something to complain about. they chose to set there sites on the playbook. i for one am content with it and complaining about stupid people, there been some descent games to come out. but every whinner, complainer, and mos victum expected instant ipad abilities. you know something new to have what took something four years atleast to achieve. yes many of the apps were just botched pos to get a free device. but what did you expect from something like that. im willing to wait, i have a good feeling soon anoff ill be getting tweets from crackberry saying this or that is availible for the pb or so and so's app is going expect it soon on app world. but for now like chat roulette we gotta wade through the dicks to get something good.
Last edited by drethos; 05-25-11 at 07:47 PM.
05-25-11 07:40 PMLike 0 - i just buy an old android htc desire, cdma. go to android market, install news apps:
the independent, thomson reuters, bbc news, news360, ap mobile, time mobile, fluent news, guardian, aljazeera.
its a revelation, reading news..dejavu actually since i used to own nexus one back then.
all this hassle because i like reading news, and there are no news apps in pb. don't want to browse, waste of time especially with pb browser.
there are news apps in appworld...some canadian newspapers, few google readers, but none from major news.
thats just news on android. ios offer similar or more.
if the unavailable apps (which was installed on my torch) on myworld can be installed on pb, thats good enough.05-26-11 05:16 AMLike 0 - Yes patience is good. On your other note If you think about it. The playBook is more of a mobile computer at this point and is very powerfully in that capacity. For myself It dose everything I need. Apps and games. perhaps nice to have. For me not, I dont have the time for games. People buy hundreds of millions of PC and laptops every year. Their is HUGE potential for PB!05-26-11 07:56 AMLike 0
- i just buy an old android htc desire, cdma. go to android market, install news apps:
the independent, thomson reuters, bbc news, news360, ap mobile, time mobile, fluent news, guardian, aljazeera.
its a revelation, reading news..dejavu actually since i used to own nexus one back then.
all this hassle because i like reading news, and there are no news apps in pb. don't want to browse, waste of time especially with pb browser.
there are news apps in appworld...some canadian newspapers, few google readers, but none from major news.
thats just news on android. ios offer similar or more.
if the unavailable apps (which was installed on my torch) on myworld can be installed on pb, thats good enough.Last edited by papped; 05-26-11 at 01:16 PM.
05-26-11 11:26 AMLike 0 - What is disturbing to me is that the two companies that I contacted have both said outright that they have no intention of developing their apps for the PB. Basically if their apps will run within whatever Android environment the PB emulates I will be fine otherwise I've been told that I should consider changing tablets.
One told me that there are just too many BB platforms between the various RIM OS'es to have to keep a track of and that RIM themselves don't know where or what they are going to settle on to make sw development feasible. Clearly not ALL developers feel this way as there are some good apps trickling in but I have to wonder how many others feel this way.05-26-11 03:13 PMLike 0 - What is disturbing to me is that the two companies that I contacted have both said outright that they have no intention of developing their apps for the PB. Basically if their apps will run within whatever Android environment the PB emulates I will be fine otherwise I've been told that I should consider changing tablets.
Last edited by offthahorseceo; 05-26-11 at 04:32 PM.
05-26-11 04:30 PMLike 0 - "I'll do without and most likely find a competing alternative, even if that alternative is web based and not an app"
Not an option for me. I'm talking about a specialized app that remote controls a piece of hardware placed in a location that is inaccessible for periods of time. The application controls the unit via wi-fi and both triggers and captures data as well as setting up a FTP sever/client for moving the data back and forth. For the longest time the only option was a laptop. Last year the vendor added iPad support and in the last 6 (?) months they rolled out an Android app. I had hoped that they would also support the PB but now have been told that they just don't see the demand to justify writing the app for the PB and that hopefully the Android version will work. Barring that, 99% (their number not mine) of their users are now using iPads and having great success and that I should consider an iPad for the app even if only dedicated to this one use and my PB for my personal use.
I'm not going to win that battle so here is to hoping that not many companies follow suit and that whatever it is that RIM is or isn't doing to get the app writers into the RIM camp is done FAST.05-26-11 07:06 PMLike 0 - if no one ever spoke up, nothing would ever change. the apps on the playbook do not meet the device's potential at the moment, which i can deal with temporarily because i know the playbook has some growing to do.
in regards to the ipad, it had time to develop. there is no denying that the selection of applications here is genius. i wish to see the same applications found on my ipad, on my playbook soon...you know the hardcore stuff like e-mail lol05-26-11 07:24 PMLike 0 - Our LexisNexis Rep was in today and a user mentioned that she recently bought the iPad2. The Rep told her that they just released an app for iPad. I started to ask her if they would be making a Playbook app and then stopped because I realized I could just open it up in the browser. Looks really nice too. The lady that just got the iPad even remarked on how nice the screen looked.
According to the Citrix Support forums, they should have a Citrix Receiver app for Playbook out by the end of June.05-26-11 08:09 PMLike 0 - the apps dont bother me so much in i know they`ll come, this is a new platform after all.
also i think any dev not making stuff for the QNX platform is gonna be at a disadvantage soon, because this time next year BB will be QNX phones, so most the API`s will be close if not the same, and id expect the majority of the code and assets of an app to be transferable.
those that say `we`ll use android app player` are potentially going to be giving users an inferioer experience, thats not a reflection on the app player at all, simply the fact RIM have stated the app player will be `sandboxed` so some (if not all?) API`s wont be available, not a problem for your game, might be an issue if your trying to use API`s that arent open in the sandbox, sya for example (and im only guessing) the camera API may not be available, so a skype port wouldnt work, or something similar.
what does bother me though is the graphical quality of some of the apps, theres some awesome graphics apps and games, then theres some that look like they`ve been done by someone using the rectangle tool and the fill button and thats it, i mean dont get me wrong the apps themselves may be great, but the first thing a users see`s is the icon in appworld, if that looks rubbish then odds are the average user wont go any further (see Tipb poll they did a few weeks ago for their findings). i guess alot of it from myself is going from a positively cramped BB screen to work with (480x360 for a screen and just 80x80 for an icon) to a screen thats got that many pixels gives a real chance to get some great graphics going, thats really the only thing that bugs me, look at the detail in the pre-installed apps like voicenotes, calculator and weather and you see what can be done in a subtle yet nice way.
also jus wanted to add, the game Mooo is pretty wicked to play, is worth checking out and is free05-26-11 08:29 PMLike 0 - 05-26-11 09:28 PMLike 0
- Forum
- BlackBerry PlayBook Forums
- PlayBook Apps & Games
Why is everyone complaining about the apps?
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD