[ThaMunsta]

When big name apps come out and are simply Android ports, people are less than thrilled (and thats an understatement). At the same time people get excited for Android updates when they talk about BB10 running Jellybean...

Personally I think the ability to get Android apps in BB World was a great way to have a rich ecosystem at launch. Long term, I don't think it's a good solution. I do like being able to sideload apps that aren't in BB World though...

If BlackBerry 10 continues the great momentum they have and gains a good spot in the market, do you think it would be best to "trim the fat" and cut out Android all together? Would it benefit the OS to free up that memory, possibly improve boot time (I think it loads in the background after core boot)? Would people be happier if developers were forced to build native? Or are things good the way they are and developers be given a choice how to build their app?

I dream of a day where developers will always choose to go native and say "of course we have a BB10 app". If that day ever comes it will probably be a clear choice to ditch Android.

[RoboticGolem]

I think the android ability really does help. I'd rather them be native, but lets face it: Making an entire new port of your app is a chore. Especially if you have no solid knowledge about the demand of the app. Having the option to put an android port on the bb market is a 10-15min task(at worst). After that, you only see a few downloads, you know the time needed to re-make the whole app in cascades is not worth it. You see 20 or 30 thousand downloads, you know that it may be in the best interest to make a cascades version that integrates with all of the blackberry features. Couple that with the new cross platform BBM, it becomes a (sort of) additional adverts. So an so downloads it and if it's connected with BBM everyone on that guys BBM list sees this app being used.

*shrug* two cents and all that. =D

[ThaMunsta]

10-15min task(at worst). After that, you only see a few downloads, you know the time needed to re-make the whole app in cascades is not worth it. You see 20 or 30 thousand downloads, you know that it may be in the best interest to make a cascades version that integrates with all of the blackberry features.

I totally agree! It comes down to the developers though. 2 big examples of doing it right and doing it wrong is Songza vs Skype.

Skype spent a long time tweaking the android port and trying to make it as good as they could and I feel like it is their long term plan. They probably could have made a native app in the time it took them to get it into BB World.

Songza spent little time porting the app, but want to go native now. Songza going native for BlackBerry 10 | CrackBerry.com

I think what I would really want to see is nearly every developer port their Android apps to BB World because its so easy and long term start developing native apps so that eventually in a few years every app you would expect would be native and in BB World and we would simply have no need for side loading or android ports.