1. Apelles123's Avatar
    Someone said RIM should have gone with android on PlayBook. I couldn't disagree more. I think QNX is a better OS and beats android and iOS, and many experts agree. The PlayBook wouldn't be a PlayBook without QNX, BB10 or whatever you want to call it. The long term game plan is a phone OS that is the same as the PlayBook OS and so RIM needed to develop something that could stand the test of time and have control over it. BlackBerry would melt into oblivion competing with other android hardware manufacturers and offer no real difference in experience if it uses Android. The fact that it supports android apps (at least get up to 2.2 or 2.3) is nice, and maybe eventually it will add android 4.0 emulation and maybe greater compatability helps bridge the app gap for now. But I support RIM totally with the decision to build a solid robust QNX based OS which is strong enough to power their future lines for years to come. It was a hard pill to swallow for RIM and the stock value and product delays reflect that, but when it finally does arrive I think BB10 phones will be a fast and powerful contender. Also I agree with a comment above that once peopld start upgrading to BB10 phones we will see way more apps. Not many people buy tablets but almost everybody will be considering a new phone upgrade every 2-3 years when their contract expires, and blackberry users will likely move on to BB10. Then you will have millions more devices that can run PlayBook apps and if linked to carriers bills for purchases, you will have people easily buying apps too. Can't wait!
    Yes I agree. Also both Google/Android and Amazon/Android are enmeshed in a rats nest of " security holes " and privacy violations. QNX is secure and clean.
    Last edited by Apelles1; 03-09-12 at 12:16 AM.
    03-09-12 12:12 AM
  2. Joanne17's Avatar
    I know the original thread said no Netflix discussion, but how can that be glossed over? That is a major deal to a lot of people running mobile devices. Even if a Playbook is considered more of a 'business' device, it's still pretty ridiculous that it's not available.
    gosh here we go again...

    complaints about this need to be directed at Netflix not at RIM
    Last edited by Joanne9810; 03-09-12 at 12:43 AM.
    03-09-12 12:36 AM
  3. inolle's Avatar
    browse apps categories utilities / utilities. Lots of apps added recently. You've not lived until you've seen star wars rendered in ascii on a telnet app. :d
    what app is taht i really would like to see it
    03-09-12 12:48 AM
  4. Justthecrack's Avatar
    I suspect that many of the BIG apps for the Playbook like Acrobat Reader, Evernote, DocsToGo were actually ported by RIM, and not by the respective companies, and that may be something they will need to continue doing.
    I do believe DocsToGo is made by Dataviz, which is OWNED by RIM. It's basically a proprietary app for BB. I really don't get this "app" craze going on. It might be convenient and nice for teh extremely lazy, but 95% of them aren't really necessary. The PB device does so much via excellent hardware, there is no need to desire so many apps like over at Apple.

    There are only a handfull that are truly still needed (like Skype). Others mentioned in this thread (close garage door??? sort photos??? take notes????) just sound like bloatware for teh lazy who just want BB to resemble Apple for chic purposes only.
    03-09-12 01:10 AM
  5. Apelles123's Avatar
    Try "Practice English Grammar" it's in the BB App World.
    03-09-12 01:25 AM
  6. masqueofhastur's Avatar
    I don't think the PB will ever hit a point where we have too many apps (even BB10 will have a hard time hitting that point), however it does have a good chance of getting a number of good ones. Smart devs will realize that releasing an app on the PB will get a kind of exposure they couldn't get on iOS or Android. This was the case for the Mac and Even Linux back in the day. Make a cross platform app that ends up being the best out of 3 or 4 in its category on Mac or Linux and you get a bunch of Windows users as well. The GIMP and VLC are perfect examples of that.

    Most people don't have any sort of allegiance to a platform or ecosystem, so you might have someone with an iPhone, a PlayBook and a Windows PC - that person will be most interested in an app (particularly if it's a service as well) that runs on all 3.

    The Android player is probably the most important for games, as they are more disposable and less likely to benefit from being cross platform - I'm not buying Plants vs Zombies a third time (after iOS and 360).
    03-09-12 02:23 AM
  7. masqueofhastur's Avatar
    It seems to me Netflix is not long for this world personally. I barely know anyone who still uses it.
    Depends on who you talk to. Netflix is the only thing I use to watch TV. Don't even bother with torrenting anymore except for the weird cases of them having Season 2 onwards but not Season 1 of a particular show. Nothing else comes even close for convenience. Amazon Prime might be good too, but not for Canada.
    03-09-12 02:42 AM
  8. peclaver's Avatar
    I are also interested in productivity apps, there are some good ones already native as
    Evernote, Remote Desktop, Files & Folders, Splashtop

    and waiting for some others like
    Cisco Webex
    Cisco jabber
    GPS Navigation like TomTom, Sygic or Copilot or waze
    Tunein Radio
    Air playit or good video streamer or DLNA capable
    something similar to Flipboard or improvement Blackberry news
    Improved Codecs on Video Player
    Improved Documents ToGO
    good network fie explorer - LAN file explorer need improvements
    native Exchange tasks & notes
    Native BBM

    and some others that works converted Android
    Sugarsync
    Teamviewer or Logmein
    LinkedinBloomberg
    Pulse
    yammer
    twitter

    Most of them are avaliable for Blackberry Phones and RIM needs to have for the playbook too
    I think that with 10-12 apps for me the Playbook wil be a complete solution, also like to download apps from App world vis Bridge, I think is really a must have
    regards
    OttawaGabe likes this.
    03-09-12 03:01 AM
  9. TheUnknownUser's Avatar
    You build it they will come lol is the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread title
    03-09-12 03:14 AM
  10. PBfanatic's Avatar
    I am very happy with my PB since I got it last april 26, 2011.
    I bought all the HD games from unity, gameloft, Unity and EA,
    and much happier now that playbook OS2 is here,
    the avility to sideload and play android games in my PB is much better
    than playing it on android device.
    03-09-12 04:02 AM
  11. igor10000's Avatar
    Aren�t they coming already?
    03-09-12 04:06 AM
  12. PBfanatic's Avatar
    OK, for those who say to side-load, whats the point, buy a Galaxy Tab!

    Do I think apps will come? Lets put this logically, if you were to develop an app, spend many many hours working your @$$ off on it hoping to gain a few dollars back would you pick Playbook?

    Now read this:

    You Win, RIM! (An Open Letter To RIM's Developer Relations)
    whats the point of buying another tablet if playbook can run android apps, with much smoother UI,

    I have more sidelaoded apps than apps i bought in the appworld,

    Playbook complete my every day.
    03-09-12 04:08 AM
  13. Alex_Hong's Avatar
    I think many factors are at play here. From what i read from the open letter, it seems that RIM's development process is a little more complicated as compared to iOS or Android. RIM needs to simplify the process, to make it as easy to use as possible, not just for professional developers, but for everyone who has a great idea. Some random dude may have a great idea for an app for playbook, but may not have the background in programming. Idea gone to waste.

    iOS apps typically look and feel more polished than blackberry and android apps. Perhaps they attract the "right" crowd? Designers and the creative industry uses mac primarily, which is an advantage for Apple. Since they make the mac osx. Meaning their development tools can make full use of the system. Which translate to a larger percentage of developers that might be designers previously. Speculation.

    Also, i think the important thing for RIM to do now is to convince the developers of the popular apps on iOS and Android to do their first app for the playbook. If the app is well received, it will spur developers on to port more of their apps over. Just take Xlabz for example. They make apps for all 3 platforms. Their apps are one of the more polished ones in app world currently. With beautiful interface and functionality. They are still releasing new apps for playbook. Uber Iris. Rovio from what i read, will be releasing angry birds in space as well on the playbook soon after the release on android. This is what we need to see. Developers coming on board, and then continuing their support for the playbook. If RIM can do that, maybe in the future (hopefully not so far), whenever we see a new app for other platforms, we can expect it to come to the playbook soon after. Wishful thinking? I sincerely hope not. I really want to see RIM succeed.
    03-09-12 04:56 AM
  14. veganberry's Avatar
    There a plenty of apps on the Playbook so I'm not sure why it's even a concern. The Kindle Fire has no apps and it is selling like crazy. Go with your needs. I have a cheap Android tablet and quite frankly its pretty hum.
    03-09-12 07:00 AM
  15. Apelles123's Avatar
    I don't think the PB will ever hit a point where we have too many apps (even BB10 will have a hard time hitting that point), however it does have a good chance of getting a number of good ones. Smart devs will realize that releasing an app on the PB will get a kind of exposure they couldn't get on iOS or Android. This was the case for the Mac and Even Linux back in the day. Make a cross platform app that ends up being the best out of 3 or 4 in its category on Mac or Linux and you get a bunch of Windows users as well. The GIMP and VLC are perfect examples of that.

    Most people don't have any sort of allegiance to a platform or ecosystem, so you might have someone with an iPhone, a PlayBook and a Windows PC - that person will be most interested in an app (particularly if it's a service as well) that runs on all 3.

    The Android player is probably the most important for games, as they are more disposable and less likely to benefit from being cross platform - I'm not buying Plants vs Zombies a third time (after iOS and 360).
    The VLC media player would be an excellent choice for the PlayBook. There is already a beta version on xda. VLC is non profit and open source from what I can tell
    03-09-12 07:04 AM
  16. Trini-34's Avatar
    I am not sure why this is even a topic. Listen stop trying to force yourself to stay with the PlayBook. You want apps (because RIM or the PB) is not doing it for you, then leave it alone and go with a different tablet. Why buy a PB in hopes of having android apps... Buy an android tablet or an Ipad (or whatever) and stop wasting time posting about things to come and worry about the now. No disrepect but come on...
    Coachbulldog and Dookieman like this.
    03-09-12 07:45 AM
  17. torndownunit's Avatar
    I am not sure why this is even a topic. Listen stop trying to force yourself to stay with the PlayBook. You want apps (because RIM or the PB) is not doing it for you, then leave it alone and go with a different tablet. Why buy a PB in hopes of having android apps... Buy an android tablet or an Ipad (or whatever) and stop wasting time posting about things to come and worry about the now. No disrepect but come on...
    For me it's not a case of wanting 50,000 apps available. I'd just like to see a few key shortcomings patched up. EG, I consider Netflix and a decent media player app pretty important. I don't use video chat, but from reading threads on here clearly a lot of people do.
    03-09-12 07:55 AM
  18. RicThot's Avatar
    Do I think apps will come? Lets put this logically, if you were to develop an app, spend many many hours working your @$$ off on it hoping to gain a few dollars back would you pick Playbook?
    Yeah, actually I would... Actually I would make my app as cross-platform as possible and therefore increase my revenue by offering it to the broadest range of devices available...

    Now regarding app world, as I said before, RIM had an offer to give away free playbook to anyone submitting an app that would being approved... Look at new arrivals and judge of the quality by yourself, it's crap!

    Even RIM seems to be aware that a huge load of low quality app are making it to the App World... here's a little twitter convo I had with Alec Saunders yesterday:

    Last edited by RicThot; 03-09-12 at 08:10 AM.
    03-09-12 08:05 AM
  19. rolltide78's Avatar
    Agree totally. Here is the reason I'm using my Playbook more than my Ipad 2... Messaging and communication. I believe RIM has successfully ported their great messaging tools to the tablet with success. I already alone am more productive with communication than I ever was on my ipad plus it's much more portable. The ipad obviously has a lot more apps but to be honest the whole App Wowness factor wore off after a month and I ended up just using a handful. That all being said I already have 230 apps on my Playbook and now feel the need to delete a lot because I've never used most.

    I firmly believe good things are coming to the platform.
    03-09-12 08:05 AM
  20. Apelles123's Avatar
    There a plenty of apps on the Playbook so I'm not sure why it's even a concern. The Kindle Fire has no apps and it is selling like crazy. Go with your needs. I have a cheap Android tablet and quite frankly its pretty hum.
    The KF has the Amazon App market which has a millions of apps and is in stiff competition with Google various Android markets. The Kindle Fire was designed and subsidized with the sole purpose of buying apps and other content. The Amazon app market has also drawn criticism for giving away one free paid for app every day,as the developer of the app is not reimbursed. The Amazon App Market is one of the main reasons for the Kindle Fire's existence,it's why Jeff Bezos is selling the KF slightly under what it costs Amazon to have manufactured!
    As for your cheap Android tablet it probably has Apps Lib which is the market for unapproved Android tablets. It is the nadir of app markets. Unfortunately some of these apps such as deezer and Big Buck Bunny (a demo cartoon for cheap Android tablets) are showing up in BB App World. I really hope that no tech journalists recognize these apps or BlackBerry will get slammed with insults and criticism . The BB App World will be compared with justification to Apps Lib. Here is your proof the PlayBook has the exactly the same apps as the Coby Kyros and every other cheap after market Android tablet. This is everything we want to avoid!
    Last edited by Apelles1; 03-09-12 at 08:12 AM.
    03-09-12 08:09 AM
  21. OttawaGabe's Avatar
    I do believe DocsToGo is made by Dataviz, which is OWNED by RIM. It's basically a proprietary app for BB. I really don't get this "app" craze going on. It might be convenient and nice for teh extremely lazy, but 95% of them aren't really necessary. The PB device does so much via excellent hardware, there is no need to desire so many apps like over at Apple.

    There are only a handfull that are truly still needed (like Skype). Others mentioned in this thread (close garage door??? sort photos??? take notes????) just sound like bloatware for teh lazy who just want BB to resemble Apple for chic purposes only.
    For the "lazy"... really? That's just trolling.
    03-09-12 08:12 AM
  22. Apelles123's Avatar
    For the "lazy"... really? That's just trolling.
    They're a few of them and they all write like Borat
    03-09-12 08:29 AM
  23. crackberryjill's Avatar
    One thing that is certain (as far as I can tell) if PB keeps its price point, or doesn't go up a heck of a lot, it will dominate as the majority of people aren't buying tablets to turn on their oven or open their garage door. The door probably came with a remote anyway.

    I would think the two main reasons people buy them are business and entertainment.

    If purchased for business then now with OS2, it really can't be beat. Adding bridge if you have a BB phone (I don't) is an added bonus. If Apple had done that, had bridge for the iPhone and iPad, then they would be up their being heralded at the world geniuses. With almost full GPS capability coming with Magellan Compass update, it blasts the wifi version of iPad out of the water there.

    For entertainment, there are a zillion games, flash, add your own movies, visit sites such as crackle and veetle and stream. It really is endless. Sometimes I think we get so picky. The more we are offered, the more we want. Never satisfied.

    2 cameras, HD video and you can keep it handy in your pocket to catch those moments. Although ideally a dedicated camera is better, the PB is faster.

    I think we now forget that for $199 vs $399 - $499 and up for others with 16GB we have the steal of the century.

    Someone said if I want android apps go buy a Galaxy Tab. Sure, I'll spend an extra $300 - $400 so I can have a few more games and Skype. And really crappy cameras. Or if I had bought it instead of my PB an extra $100. Although I got mine for less through a RIM employee.

    For what it offers, you get a lot more bang for your buck than any other tablet can offer. By far.

    As for the huge Android Market vs. the limited PB customer base. I don't have the link handy, but the developer who did Solar System Explorer was surprised to find his PB app outsold his Android app. So sometimes the larger market isn't the best.

    Still lots of apps coming. I bought PicShop last night and its a great photo editing app. One more off of the list of have to haves.
    Last edited by crackberryjill; 03-09-12 at 08:48 AM.
    03-09-12 08:33 AM
  24. cdelcampo216's Avatar
    All I have to ask is... IS GROOVY NOTES worth $5?
    And, yeah, until Skype, Netflix, Amazon Prime & Hulu come to the PB, it will be tough to compete. Sorry to "break the rules" but it's true. Any Video Messenger service would be great actually. Please don't say that Real Portal thing.. it doesn't work & how do you even tell someone about it? They would be like, Um...? Do you have Skype?

    We don't need 1000000 apps, we just need 10 - 20 GREAT QUALITY pre-existing Apps that work on all other platforms to be developed for the PlayBook.

    03-09-12 08:49 AM
  25. DMitch's Avatar
    I am not sure why this is even a topic. Listen stop trying to force yourself to stay with the PlayBook. You want apps (because RIM or the PB) is not doing it for you, then leave it alone and go with a different tablet. Why buy a PB in hopes of having android apps... Buy an android tablet or an Ipad (or whatever) and stop wasting time posting about things to come and worry about the now. No disrepect but come on...
    No disrespect taken.
    I can't pinpoint exactly the reason(s) for my topic. When my contract for my phone was up i took advantage of the Verizon iphone $99. Less than 1 week w/phone(as much as I wanted to like the phone) I returned it & paid $50 for restocking + $250 for BB 9930...never regretted that decision!

    When PB went on sale bought one fell in love w/it! Even though I suffered thru MANY "issues" which I won't go into detail. Spent countless hrs on forums and w/advance BB tech support for 2weeks w/o solving issues! Heck, even bought one for 12 yr old daughter for birthday!

    As I reviewed and purchased productivity apps for business purposes I found most that were there just did not provide the level of fuctionality or choices in the business areana.

    I do not know much about sideloading adroid app and from post on CB many seem to have issues there.
    The PB has been used mainly an extention of my phone and I am finding it diffulcult to fuction more effectively & efficiently as a stand alone device thru 3rd party business apps...Maybe it's operator error or my ignorance of using the PB.

    2 examples of apps that would GREATLY assist me:
    1) NOTE TAKING APP w/stylus to be used in meetings
    2) Contact Management app

    Also, PB stated it supports WMA files (one of reasons I bought it)...I can't watch a single WMA training video/recorded webinars

    with that said,

    For some reason, rather than ditching PB and looking for something else...I am curiously attached to PB and want it to succeed...I can't put a finger on it (weird)!!

    I do not desire a bloated app world...just a few quality business applications integrated & coordinated w/PB email, contacts, notes ect much like our BB phones.

    And the purpose of this thread was to gather "rational" thoughts & insights in providing me and possibly to others (who maybe in the minority) wondering-waiting...will the kind of apps the business person like myself will find value come oneday or not?
    03-09-12 08:58 AM
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