[zerochances]

I'm really keane to invest in a tablet right now, and although I'd really like to stick BlackBerry given I use their mobile devices, I just can't help but worry from what I've seen that much like in the sector of mobile devices the Apps available for the PlayBook are just lacking so much in both design and funcitonal quality.

The PlayBook has some good power, but yet it's still seeing apps that are nothing to boast about like tic tac toe, doom, and everything else we had decades ago. Simple boring games.

Is it a hardware issue? Are all the decent developers working with Apple software?

Or am I just plain wrong..

[sportline]

Just wait. If rim can sell quarter million mickey mouse tablet without nqtive email, 2011- worthy browser and decent apps, they wouldnt care getting decent apps. Why bother? People still flocks to buy pb. Even more are returning it.
Tic tac toe for professional grade tablet. For smart, yuppies, bb users, mid 30's professional.

[wms3]

I guess it depends on what type of apps you want. For free i have an excellent dice roller for RPGs, a units converter, a language translator and a Dropbox app. (This was $.99 but is now free). For pay i have an excellent File Manager, something RIM left out. I don't care about games, so cant answer to them. but the apps I have combined with the pre-installed apps (Word To Go, Sheet To Go, etc) gives me everything i want on the PB. The only thing i really need is the ability yo load my own epubs into Kobo and i'm really set!

[dkonigs]

I think the real problem is that RIM focused first on Adobe Air and WebWorks as their development platforms. They saw "millions of flash developers" and thought that bending over backwards to entice them would be a good thing. To me, its a horrible thing. They're basically catering to the folks who create content that people like me install Firefox plugins to block from our web experiences.

RIM really should have put more focus on getting a BlackBerry Java "player" out there up-front, so existing BlackBerry apps could be easily ported (or even just run). Then they should have offered a real Java and/or C++ SDK for the device upfront as well. Adobe Air and WebWorks are great for the sorts of apps you're seeing on the PlayBook right now. The problem is, well, you're complaining about the limited usefulness of those apps. ;-)

[shootsscores]

The browser beats the snot out of the iPad. Full web access. FULL.

[semicoln]

Better apps will come when the native SDK is available. Remember when the first iPhone only allowed web applications? We are in that phase now except instead of being limited to HTML apps like early iPhone apps we at least have flash and flex.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[howarmat]

The browser beats the snot out of the iPad. Full web access. FULL.

full should have an asterick* by it lol

NDK is not official released yet. Expect that in the fall. Once that is release then some better apps/games should appear

[DX9]

I understand people want apps but honestly the Playbook has Full Web. I use the Facebook full site instead of the app. Why? There is no need for an app when your device has the Full Wed like a laptop or desktop computer. Yes, the games will come. It is a new platform.

[TheMarco]

I think the real problem is that RIM focused first on Adobe Air and WebWorks as their development platforms. They saw "millions of flash developers" and thought that bending over backwards to entice them would be a good thing. To me, its a horrible thing. They're basically catering to the folks who create content that people like me install Firefox plugins to block from our web experiences.

RIM really should have put more focus on getting a BlackBerry Java "player" out there up-front, so existing BlackBerry apps could be easily ported (or even just run). Then they should have offered a real Java and/or C++ SDK for the device upfront as well. Adobe Air and WebWorks are great for the sorts of apps you're seeing on the PlayBook right now. The problem is, well, you're complaining about the limited usefulness of those apps. ;-)

Ummm no. And no. First of all, AIR is not Flash. It's a completely different way of working. VERY useful apps can be made with AIR.

Same thing with WebWorks. Plenty of opportunity for useful apps.

The reason you don't see a lot of them is the fact that this is a brand new platform that doesn't (yet) attract a lot of bigger developers, the fact that the SDK's are still somewhat immature and the 'build an app, get a free playbook' promotion RIM has ran.

Good and useful apps can be built on any platform and with any SDK. AIR and WebWorks provide everything a developer needs to do so. There are some things you can't do with it but to say you can only build crappy apps with these platforms is utter nonsense.

[trsbbs]

The browser beats the snot out of the iPad. Full web access. FULL.

All most full, it does not run Java applets..

Tim

[trsbbs]

full should have an asterick* by it lol

NDK is not official released yet. Expect that in the fall. Once that is release then some better apps/games should appear

Too little to late if they wait until then.

Tim

[ifarlow]

The reason you don't see a lot of them is the fact that this is a brand new platform that doesn't (yet) attract a lot of bigger developers, the fact that the SDK's are still somewhat immature and the 'build an app, get a free playbook' promotion RIM has ran.

Isn't this a self-fulfilling issue, though? In other words, there aren't many decent/brand name developers working on PlayBook apps. As a result, there aren't many decent/brand name apps available. That, in turn, means that as people evaluate whether or not to develop for the PlayBook, they decide there isn't enough return on investment to develop for the PlayBook because they see poor app activity due to a lack of decent/brand name apps/developers. Which means that junk apps get developed instead, which means that better developers stay away, which means that more junk apps get developed, which means...

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

[ifarlow]

All most full, it does not run Java applets..

Tim

But wait... I though Flash was the savior of the web, and as long as the PlayBook has Flash support, it will be amazing! Don't worry... I'm sure someone will come along and remind you that Java applets really aren't important.

[shootsscores]

Streaming sports such as the Stanley Cup playoffs is absolutely the bomb in my case. I would have owned an iPad long ago if it had had that basic web capability.

[xandermac]

Flash = More Ads..... Thats about the only use I found for flash on the PB. I've yet to find a video that played on my PB that doesn't play on my iPad, I'm certain they are around but I haven't found them yet.

[ifarlow]

Flash = More Ads..... Thats about the only use I found for flash on the PB.

This is why I have turned off Flash on my PlayBook... which, ironically enough, takes away the one thing that RIM touted made the PlayBook browser better than all the rest. You know... the full web and all.

[howarmat]

I understand people want apps but honestly the Playbook has Full Web. I use the Facebook full site instead of the app. Why? There is no need for an app when your device has the Full Wed like a laptop or desktop computer. Yes, the games will come. It is a new platform.

i will give you a reason, notifications! the same thing that makes a blackberry phone great also can make the PB much better.

There are tons of things that the full web cant do like video and photo editing, keeping track of finances with tools like quicken and such. Even remote desktop capabilties are better with an app over using a web portal in my experience.

the web can handle basic things but many times an app can fine tune it for the tablet to make it better

[shootsscores]

Flash = More Ads..... Thats about the only use I found for flash on the PB. I've yet to find a video that played on my PB that doesn't play on my iPad, I'm certain they are around but I haven't found them yet.

The above is an example of the paradigm shift being created by fully web capable mobile devices. Apple, in a manner of speaking, created the tablet "language" but newer devices are expanding the lexicon. iPad users do not know how to exploit the full web experience on a mobile device because the full web experience has always been denied to them. The Apple iOS cannot stream flash based sports, etc., so iPad users are wholly unaware of that experience.

[ifarlow]

i will give you a reason, notifications! the same thing that makes a blackberry phone great also can make the PB much better.

Exactly. I don't know why it's so hard for people to understand this concept.

[kill_9]

Is it a hardware issue? Are all the decent developers working with Apple software?

The hardware is top-notch but until the Native Development Kit (NDK) is released and, in my humble opinion, some solid professional-grade applications available through BlackBerry App World the quality of applications remains its Achilles' Heel. I hope Research In Motion steps up their development.

[ifarlow]

The Apple iOS cannot stream flash based sports, etc., so iPad users are wholly unaware of that experience.

While iOS users may be "unaware" of the Flash experience on mobile devices, they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, "unaware" of the streaming video experience. Flash isn't, despite everyone's best efforts, the holy grail of the internet. Having achieved Flash nirvana on the PlayBook doesn't mean we can all go home now, because there is nothing left to achieve.

[shootsscores]

While iOS users may be "unaware" of the Flash experience on mobile devices, they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, "unaware" of the streaming video experience. Flash isn't, despite everyone's best efforts, the holy grail of the internet. Having achieved Flash nirvana on the PlayBook doesn't mean we can all go home now, because there is nothing left to achieve.

Flash is a major component of the intertubes denied to mobile iOS users.

[ifarlow]

Sure thing. Keep telling yourself that Flash content is that important in the grand scheme of things. I guess that's why Flash blockers are popular for desktop browsers, and why RIM allows the end user to disable Flash on the PlayBook... because it's that important.

[Thumbtyper]

Flash is dead..

Read this final death blow...

Apple Goes Nuclear In War Against Adobe Flash | The Daily Feed | Minyanville.com

"Jonathan Deutsch and Ryan Nielsen have designed and released Hype -- a viable HTML5 alternative to Flash available for the Mac. Like Flash, the program uses keyframes for designers to create animations and transitions for web content. However, Hype uses the WebKit engine which powers Google Chrome and Safari.

Already, the software is the top grossing app in the Mac App Store since launching last Friday.

In an interview with The Startup Foundry, Deutsch said he teamed up with Nielsen to create a tool that would be supported on mobile devices. "While Flash enables some really great content on the web, there's lots of people who aren't favorable on it due to its lack of accessibility, CPU usage, or crashes. It isn't appropriate for mobile."

Hype, on the other hand, is fully supported on iOS and Android devices.

The software is feature heavy and the official site also includes tutorials to help newbies get started with kicking Flash to the curb.

Although Deutsch admits that Adobe has been making progress in Flash's stability on mobile devices, that all could be moot if the alternative is so simple, accessible, stable, and widely supported"

[shootsscores]

Sure thing. Keep telling yourself that Flash content is that important in the grand scheme of things. I guess that's why Flash blockers are popular for desktop browsers, and why RIM allows the end user to disable Flash on the PlayBook... because it's that important.

The simple fact of the matter is that Flash is a major component of the web experience denied to iOS users. The PB also allows me to mute sound but that doesn't mean that sound is undesirable. Full access and full control of that experience is the idea behind the PB and RIM. Should Flash become obsolete and replaced by something more efficient, then that's great (I have no vested interest in Flash) but until then it remains, I repeat, a major component of the web experience.