- So here it is November 2011 and I'm contemplating a crazy idea: Creating a native email app for the PlayBook. Crazy, because RIM is set to release their own native email app in three months.
The reason I'm thinking about doing it is that, first of all, it would be a fun challenge, second, I don't think it would take that long to create something simple but effective (40 hours?), and third, I like the idea of helping the PlayBook since I'm fond of the device, and maybe it would be an asset to the PlayBook to have native email functionality for the Christmas season. (And fourth, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the 2.0 release slipped a month or two, so it's conceivable that native email functionality won't arrive for another five months)
Would people value having native email now rather than a few months from now, or is this a silly idea?
Let me know what you think.
The features I'm thinking of targeting:
- IMAP/SMTP
- Storing messages locally
- Reading a message on the local device marks it read on the server and vice versa
- Send, Reply, Forward, Delete, Flag functionality
- Attachments
- Ability to view HTML emails, but only compose them as plain text
- Get notifications when you receive new mail (haven't looked into the API for this)
- Possibly a simple spell check
- Closely mimic the UI of the BlackBerry Bridge Email interface.
Daniel11-20-11 03:54 PMLike 8 - daniel if you can..... do it because for me is very important, and what you say, i have many friend that want a playbook but they do not have a bb, so for then is not helping with out native email11-20-11 06:00 PMLike 0
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- Hey Shao128,
I had been thinking that RIM would be happy to see someone deliver some native email functionality as a stop gap for their solution next year, but you seem to suggest otherwise. Could you elaborate on why RIM wouldn't be likely to approve the app?11-20-11 09:00 PMLike 0 - pelletizer,
Not sure what you mean by snap a pic -- I haven't started coding yet, I'm just curious what people's thoughts are.11-20-11 09:01 PMLike 0 - 11-20-11 09:02 PMLike 0
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- Weird. That is counter intuitive to me. If one of the key reasons people aren't buying the PlayBook is that there isn't any native email functionality, I would think RIM would be strongly encouraging third parties to fill that void. Or am I missing something? Is it commonly understood why RIM doesn't want third parties to deliver email functionality?11-20-11 09:10 PMLike 0
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- Weird. That is counter intuitive to me. If one of the key reasons people aren't buying the PlayBook is that there isn't any native email functionality, I would think RIM would be strongly encouraging third parties to fill that void. Or am I missing something? Is it commonly understood why RIM doesn't want third parties to deliver email functionality?meltbox360 likes this.11-20-11 11:05 PMLike 1
- Don't want it! Now, yesterday, tomorrow, or in 6 months, I don't want it ever.
I love being able to disconnect my BlackBerry phone and have all my important emails and contacts vanish from my PlayBook. There's no need to worry about friends going into my messages or looking at my contacts. No passwords or sign-ins to get to them. They can play games and browse the web without me having to stand by them to make sure they don't mess with my personal stuff.
Now an app that will do PlayBook wide AutoText is something I'd pay good money for...11-20-11 11:26 PMLike 0 - Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've emailed Alec Saunders to see if he can shed some light on the situation.11-21-11 07:49 AMLike 0
- Don't want it! Now, yesterday, tomorrow, or in 6 months, I don't want it ever.
I love being able to disconnect my BlackBerry phone and have all my important emails and contacts vanish from my PlayBook. There's no need to worry about friends going into my messages or looking at my contacts. No passwords or sign-ins to get to them. They can play games and browse the web without me having to stand by them to make sure they don't mess with my personal stuff.
Now an app that will do PlayBook wide AutoText is something I'd pay good money for...11-21-11 11:34 AMLike 0 -
- to shed some further light, as per the SDK`s terms and conditions, you`d need `prior approval` from RIM before submitting the app, due to its nature, of course your exploring that avenue now, we never heard if amail ever did so it would be unfair to presume on that case.
as for alec, id bet he gets a boat load of emails all the time, i emailed him shortly after devcon and he responded the next day so very professional approach.11-21-11 08:05 PMLike 0 - to shed some further light, as per the SDK`s terms and conditions, you`d need `prior approval` from RIM before submitting the app, due to its nature, of course your exploring that avenue now, we never heard if amail ever did so it would be unfair to presume on that case.
as for alec, id bet he gets a boat load of emails all the time, i emailed him shortly after devcon and he responded the next day so very professional approach.
Thanks!11-21-11 08:47 PMLike 0
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