[Witmen]

the 199 entry fee was dropped but i thought they had to pay some of the other fees. BBthemes should be able to tell us

I paid no fees seriously, there were zero fees paid to RIM. The only cost associated with PlayBook development for me was a notary seal. That is no longer a requirement. So if I had waited a few months I could have developed for free.

I'm not sure if that changes once you reach a certain amount of apps or not. I've submitted two, with one approved, and soon to be one more submitted.

[slbailey1]

After reading the news I went to other sites to see what most people had to say about this new development and hey all are pretty much thinking its a good idea, but there where a few that had some bad things to say (completely expected).

I've been on other sites also. One point that was brought up was why not Android 3.0. I did not answer the posts but I have some ideas about why not.

1. Android 3.0 is too new. I believe that RIM has been working with Android 2.3 for months.
2. Android 3.0 is tablet only for the most part. I believe that RIM has a QNX phone in the works and they want the Android apps to work on phone also.
3. I believe that RIM is looking at the next version of Android that will merge v2.3/2.4 and v3.0.

I have one concern about Android apps on the Playbook - Will RIM keep the Android App Player up to date?

I have one question about the Playbook browser - is it a tabed browser?

This news has changed the odds of me getting a Playbook this summer from 90% Android and 10% Playbook to 50/50!

[rollingrock1988]

Not sure that the tablet market is going to explode for RIM like it did for Apple. For RIM to get back on the top of the food chain, they need some QNX Smartphones... and that looks like it won't happen for another year.

I read an article that said even if they only catch 10% of their enterprise market with the tablet, they will beat apple.

[snuci]

I paid no fees seriously, there were zero fees paid to RIM. The only cost associated with PlayBook development for me was a notary seal. That is no longer a requirement. So if I had waited a few months I could have developed for free.

It was also free for me but I paid $20 or so for the Java signing keys.

[howarmat]

Will the android apps be ready for the playbook out of the box? and will the devs transfer their apps to App World or will we have access to Android Market?

the press release in the link goes over the details for the most part

[Witmen]

It was also free for me but I paid $20 or so for the Java signing keys.

Why? you shouldn't have for the tablet OS. RIM charges your credit card $1 to prove your identity and then they return the $1. My signing keys were free, as was the registration.

[snuci]

I have one concern about Android apps on the Playbook - Will RIM keep the Android App Player up to date?

I would think that the Android App player is a Java virtual machine with Android APIs. If you are familiar with any virtual technology, like running a Windows environment on a Mac in a window. It certainly will be upgraded but there could be additional virtual environments for different versions of Android as they come out.

The question is, how does it run? Do you need to run the virtual environment (run the Android app on the Playbook) and then run the Android app within or will you just be able to click and run an Android app right from the Playbook home screen?

It's a little early to tell at this point without more details or a demo.

[snuci]

Why? you shouldn't have for the tablet OS. RIM charges your credit card $1 to prove your identity and then they return the $1. My signing keys were free, as was the registration.

It wasn't for the Tablet OS but for phone development. Good to know it's absolutely free for Tablet OS if you go that way.

[dutchtender]

Will the android apps be ready for the playbook out of the box? and will the devs transfer their apps to App World or will we have access to Android Market?

no access to android market. developers must take time and energy to transfer apps to BB appworld. these are phone apps. not tablet apps. I know this is being hyped because PB does have any native apps, but these emulation layers never are very satisfying. But it may be good for a few days of hype in the echo chamber.

[Sonic77]

Could prove to be an issue.

What is best is native designed 1024x600 Playbook apps,
now I'd think most developers will simply take the quick route
and just port code designed for Android phones to run in the emulator
at a lower resolution and speed?

[barrist]

no access to android market. developers must take time and energy to transfer apps to BB appworld. these are phone apps. not tablet apps. I know this is being hyped because PB does have any native apps, but these emulation layers never are very satisfying. But it may be good for a few days of hype in the echo chamber.

lol. they basically just have to repackage and submit to appworld, gives them a whole new market to sell to. that's incentive enough.

plus it allows RIM to root out the garbage that gets on the Market.

watching the myrian alien dalvik demo, all the android apps are integrated into the homescreen, no launching an app launcher for android apps.

[snuci]

...I know this is being hyped because PB does have any native apps, but these emulation layers never are very satisfying. But it may be good for a few days of hype in the echo chamber.

This isn't a Gameboy emulator. It's a virtual machine built on a multitasking multi-core architecture. If you have the time and energy, take a look at the some details of the architecture at BlackBerry Tablet OS – A discussion with Dan Dodge | BlackBerry Developer’s Blog

If developers can open their apps to another market and make more dollars with little to no hassle, they will. But I guess we'll find out this summer.

[barrist]

Could prove to be an issue.

What is best is native designed 1024x600 Playbook apps,
now I'd think most developers will simply take the quick route
and just port code designed for Android phones to run in the emulator
at a lower resolution and speed?

i'm running a nook color (same resolution as PB).. there are plenty of great apps available and are not low res. they scale quite nicely actually.

if android compatibility attracts a whole new group of devs who start off as android to playbook devs, then its still good for RIM. as the market grows, they'll come to see the advantages of utilizing the native SDK for low-level access to the hardware and that can take off on its own.

[MichaelPayton21]

This is as good for Android as it is for BB. The Android OS is barely a beta, and is far too buggy for the general public. Almost everyone I know with an Android wants to throw it against a wall, except for the Linux nerds that just hack it into stability. Samsung fraks up almost every Android phone they release, and even HTC can't get around what a battery/RAM-hog that the Android OS is compared to BB, iOS or webOS. A stable OS underneath the Android marketplace is what Google has been lacking to make their devices consumer friendly, as opposed to cheap (often free) iPhone knock-offs.

I'm still not 100% certain of the Playbook even with this news. After the Storm 1, I wait for the 2nd new device before committing to a new BB. Let other people with more $$ than me to toss around on a new toy "test" this model, and then I may jump on board when they use this for phones next year and my contract runs out.

Disclosure: I own an iPad 2 *and* a Blackberry Curve. Don't regret it. Love them both to death.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dutchtender]

This isn't a Gameboy emulator. It's a virtual machine built on a multitasking multi-core architecture. If you have the time and energy, take a look at the some details of the architecture at BlackBerry Tablet OS �€“ A discussion with Dan Dodge | BlackBerry Developer�€™s Blog

If developers can open their apps to another market and make more dollars with little to no hassle, they will. But I guess we'll find out this summer.

that tells me nothing about this Android emulation layer. These things have historically been terrible and rejected by consumers. as you say the proof will be in the pudding. but hardly anybody in the media is questioning this. they all just accept whatever PR comes down the pike. most people are going to complain about the experience and end up "craving" the real thing. it also will stifle native development on QNX.

[barrist]

The PB is DOA.

Just save yourself the trouble and buy an Android tablet.

What trouble? You get the multitasking capability of QNX, the security of Blackberry, and the app ecosystem of Android.

But carry on with the one-line trolling attention-***** posts. Your history is full of em.

[barrist]

Storm 1, 2, Torch, etc. revisited.

Have fun with this piece of garbage.

You know what's kind of pathetic?

I got rid of this POS and got an iPhone.

The difference is like night and day. I don't know how why **** I ever put up with that old, archaic OS RIM chooses to use on their devices.

Off to the iPhone forum.

See ya suckers.

http://forums.crackberry.com/f133/finally-did-418520/

that was your post more than a year ago.

cling much?

[Foreverup]

Storm 1, 2, Torch, etc. revisited.

Have fun with this piece of garbage.

Why I like my torch

[grover5]

You know what's kind of pathetic?


http://forums.crackberry.com/f133/finally-did-418520/

that was your post more than a year ago.

cling much?

Good lord...too funny.

[drjay868]

That's my only fear... That devs will stop making native QNX apps for the PB (and eventually phones). Instead they'll take the easy way out by just making an Android app and just do minor tweaks to port it to the PB. Otherwise, I think its a good idea to get the devs to start looking at RIM.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[andyahs]

Storm 1, 2, Torch, etc. revisited.

Have fun with this piece of garbage.

Get on back to iPhone forums and bore them to death.......please.

[Jonathan-Archer]

All of this also begs the question as to what are the prime Android apps that we'd really want.

[barrist]

That's my only fear... That devs will stop making native QNX apps for the PB (and eventually phones). Instead they'll take the easy way out by just making an Android app and just do minor tweaks to port it to the PB. Otherwise, I think its a good idea to get the devs to start looking at RIM.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

i think that's what the point of it all is imo. get android devs interested in porting their apps easily to a whole new market. the market itself grows because of this, attracting even more devs who will have an array of tools to build apps (webworks, air, native sdk, java, android, etc).

[snuci]

most people are going to complain about the experience and end up "craving" the real thing. it also will stifle native development on QNX.

I think it may stifle ntive QNX development for the "hobby" developer but the serious developer, I think, will want to take advantage of the QNX extensions to Android development (if there is such a thing). They will tweak it for the OS and as they do this, they will develop two code bases. It won't eliminate the ANdroid development by any means but it does make them Playbook developers and I think that is what they're going for. Boh that and the ability to sell apps and advertising within free or "lite" apps in the Playbook code base.

It makes good sense why they won't support totally native Android apps from the Android Market or side-loaded Android apps. If they did, they would lose the potential "developed for Playbook but based on Android" moniker as well as potential revenue.

[sf49ers]

RIM's strategy is plain and simple they are going where the developers are instead of throwing something at the wall and waiting for someone to pick it up. Throwing something at the wall and waiting used to be be their approach in the past but in the last 1 year RIM has pumped up and got their act together and I can only applaud them for all the things they are doing lately.