Google Play Services is an absolute requirement.

I really hate being the one to post another entitled, "blackberry owes us" thread. I freaking love my Q10. In fact it's the only phone I can even use right now, because a temporary medical condition makes my hands so shaky I can't use on-screen keyboards (but can use the q10's kb for some reason).

However, I just moved back to San Francisco, and now I'm carrying two phones everywhere. These are some apps that I cannot live without in SF (unless I never want to see a human being, since I'm not currently allowed to drive or take public transit):

• Sidecar
• Lyft
• Flywheel
• UberX

They all run great on iOS and Android.
These are less "have or die" but still incredibly useful and not available:

• Eventbrite
• Glympse
• Twist
• Various social/dating apps
• All of the various music services (spotify, mog, rdio, rhapsody)
• Anything about Google Voice whatsoever
• Find my Friends

Almost zero of the apps I really need work as a sideload, All of these transportation apps require Google Play Services. These famous ones work but with major issues:

• Google maps - the touch sensitivity is quite broken, making it very awkward to pan the map
• Yelp - It works, but without Play Services, not being able to get maps/directions for a venue defeats half the purpose for me

These are Android apps I used to depend on that I wish I could use (I do not wish to debug these issues in this thread; I have a solid 10.0.2.1047 setup with a correct debugtoken):

• Chrome - For some reason this one crashes on me everytime.
• Online bank apps - They all crash for me.
• GrooveIP (and the 5 clones of it) - They all crash for me.

Since Blackberry seems too busy to support its devs lately (I am a developer and have also experienced The rise and fall of the headless apps | CrackBerry.com ), and popular mobile app companies seem to have no interest in bb10 whatsoever, the only way for blackberry's current devices to be competitive and worth bragging about, is to have proper Android app support. And that requires initially exactly one thing: full support for Google Play Services. (I think the second thing would be to map Android Intents fully to bb10's Invocation system, including notifications).

I really don't see any alternative. Right now we can't make our own apps, and we aren't going to get apps from third-parties. To me, this is the clear first step to saving the platform. "Selling out" a bit more to google definitely beats losing all support when a vulture like Microsoft buys it and tears it to pieces.

Am I crazy? Are there less drastic alternatives? If not, we need to bring this to the bb dev team very loudly before it's too late.

a d a m

This would be against Google's Terms of Service. BlackBerry really have no say in the matter. If the marketshares were reversed, maybe - but not currently.

EDIT: That's not to say I don't like your idea. I would love to have full integration of Google Play Services. But Google reserves this for "pure" Android devices only.

Ah ok, that makes sense. Well I actually know people on Android so maybe I'll see if they're allowed to say anything about it.

TL;DR version:
BlackBerry, support my piracy.

C0001BBF0 - BlackBerry 10 help channel.

Originally Posted by FrankIAm

TL;DR version:
BlackBerry, support my piracy.

That seemed unnecessary to me. What does this have to do with piracy? I already own Android devices and have already bought all of these apps. If I hadn't, the APK downloader wouldn't work anyway!

Why aren't you allowed to take the bus? Muni and bart combined can literally take you anywhere in the city.

But I feel your pain on all the ride apps. I spent a small fortune this summer having to use real cabs.

Posted via CB10

Bone marrow transplant. I'm on immunosuppressants, so the crowdedness and dirtiness are pretty dangerous.

Originally Posted by sunetos

Bone marrow transplant. I'm on immunosuppressants, so the crowdedness and dirtiness are pretty dangerous.

Yikes sorry to hear that. I usually just bit the bullet and called a regular cab or had one of my friends use their phones to get a sidecar or something. I highly doubt we'll be getting the api's allowed much less the play store.

That makes sense unfortunately. I'm pretty stubborn though; I'll see if I can squeeze an official response from anybody.

Originally Posted by sunetos

Ah ok, that makes sense. Well I actually know people on Android so maybe I'll see if they're allowed to say anything about it.

Android OS is open source and anyone can fork it. Google services are proprietary and you must abide by their rules. That's why the most popular android fork --- Amazon.com's Kindle Fire doesn't have Google Maps, Google Play, GMail...

There is really nothing to say --- it's a business model issue. These are issues handled by senior Google VP's, not lowly Android engineers. You might as well try to get an official answer from Microsoft on why they just don't open source their OS.

I have been wanting this from day one. There has to be a way to talk Google into allowing this. It surely would be a win for both parties. BlackBerry can focus on building more native enterprise apps themselves and with partners. Why even try on the consumer side? It is an unatainable task unless they are a dominant player.

If it is done, I'm pretty sure that there would be less native apps developed for BlackBerry 10. Which is bad, in my opinion. If I want android apps, I would just buy an android device.

Originally Posted by Andy Wijaya

If it is done, I'm pretty sure that there would be less native apps developed for BlackBerry 10. Which is bad, in my opinion. If I want android apps, I would just buy an android device.

Exactly. If these BlackBerry users love Google Android apps so much, they might as well start to use Android devices as well.

So I'm guessing that the people who are getting all crazy about this Google Play crap have never downloaded from Play? You MUST give them all the permissions they want to get just about anything. Do you think just because we have BlackBerrys, that their going to make an exception? Like mentioned earlier, why don't you people just give in and get Androids. No more side loading and ******** about this app and that app.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by cary709394

Exactly. If these BlackBerry users love Google Android apps so much, they might as well start to use Android devices as well.

I don't think so. BlackBerry may have just decided that if apps are the issue and they have a solid product then they'll just being android apps to the device. This way people will not turn away from bb10 and possibly have customers come back.

Remember, people have left because of the whole apps thing but are not exactly happy with Android devices. I have z10, iPhone, S3, iPad and to be honest I prefer BlackBerry. For me it just does what I need it to do flawlessly and the others just don't cut it.

If BlackBerry can bring the best of both worlds together and make it work...they may actually have a chance.

As for the developers, most create apps for Android anyway so it may be easier for them to continue what they do since it will work "as is" and they can still make money. BlackBerry device will always be around as will users who prefer native apps.

BlackBerry Z...my weapon of choice.