Think the Playbook is lacking in apps? Blame the RIM CEOs

So I've seen some posts regarding the lack of (quality) apps in Playbook's App World catalog. Aside from the fact that App World itself feels like a beta product (flooded with crappy single book apps and just has an unfinished "feel" to it), I believe there is one major reason for the lack of any developer commitment: RIM telling the world back in March that the Android Player was coming to the Playbook.

I want to see if y'all agree. My reasoning is the following: As a developer I was actually looking to create some apps for the Playbook because, well, there's a larger incentive to create an app for the Playbook than for iOS which already has 100,000+ apps. But upon hearing that Android was coming to the Playbook, with its huge number of apps, I no longer have any incentive to create my app. This is in addition to the fact that I have zero desire to program in Flash and WebWorks will never have all the capabilities of a native Java app on Android.

In conclusion, the RIM CEOs need to think twice before (over-)promising features. Thoughts?

Few thoughts...

a) you can always blame CEOs for any problems a company has (everything is the responsibility of the guy/guys at the top right? so of course you're right there

b) i don't think your logic is flawed at all there. when RIM made that decision, it was by no means an all in favor decision from the top brass at rim. i hear half the people involved in the decision (not just the CEOs deciding, but the group of people involved) we're in favor, and half we're opposed, exactly for your reasoning. you're right though. let's say you're a company like Coca Cola... and you're going to be doing your app strategy and do some sort of App for the summer (marketing promo kind of thing). You're definitely going to build for iOS and Android... and you're likely going to look at the ROI for a BB app and say... well... if the android app works good enough on BB, we'll just let that one do the job there. so i don't think this was an easily made decision at RIM. and i think there were quite a few ppl initially opposed to it

c) i think the reason they went for it is because Jim Balsillie really wants the "app tonnage" problem to go away. this was the solution to get them there for volume of apps in the app store. but the second part was that for the best/highest performing apps you'd still need to build native

d) i think they're going to really try and address this at devcon next week. curious to see what they say

I think too much time is spent placing blame, and not enough time solving problems. IN this example, even if it we pin this on Mike and Jim, where does that leave us? The problem still exists.

i certainly understand your feelings however as a consumer I would much prefer a native BB app and with the latest news with a lot of restrictions on what android will or will not work I would hope that BB developers would consider rethinking their course of action.

Originally Posted by dfb8085

i certainly understand your feelings however as a consumer I would much prefer a native BB app and with the latest news with a lot of restrictions on what android will or will not work I would hope that BB developers would consider rethinking their course of action.

The OP has a good point, but so is this. Nothing is worse then seeing a cross-platform app. Those of you that have Android know what I mean. It's when you get an Android app that looks like an iPhone app. A framework generated it. While it's a good idea because of consistency, and less development time, you don't get the full user experience for that device. Not to mention you are breaking all kinds of UI guide lines setup be each OS.

In the same way developers may have held off on creating PB apps, consumers may be hanging on to (or buying) PlayBooks because of the Android app player.

I don't blame RIM for deciding to support Android Apps. In fact, I think that was the right decision. I do blame RIM for its very poor execution so far. The Android Player was announced as coming soon seven months ago.

If it is true as Kevin says in the podcast that it is still not ready for primetime, one has to wonder what is going on in Waterloo.

You have to think that many developers held off doing anything waiting to see how well the Android Player worked. If I were Amazon, for example, I would say "we have an Android App - let's see how it works on Playbook before spending the money developing a new app."

So, we have seven months on no development getting done.

Originally Posted by NickA44

The OP has a good point, but so is this. Nothing is worse then seeing a cross-platform app.

Seeing no app at all is much, much worse.

Plus, I don't mind if an App looks and feels the same on different platforms. In fact, it really should. If I buy a Big Mac, I want it to look and taste like a Big Mac. Angry Birds shouls look and feel the same on all Platforms. There is nothing wrong with that.

I would love to see the app tonage, not for myself but because it is needed to compete and for others to be interested.

What I don't want to see is this tonage of apps where 3/4th's of them are ebooks and maps like what is littering app world now. They bury the good apps!

Also when there is an ad, commercial, website that says download our app for your smartphone now and the 2 listed are iphone and android. Where is the blackberry download? People see that, no blackberry download so blackberry is not in their mind or an option for them.

Thanks Kevin. I really hope they address this issue. I'd really love to try my hand at developing a BBX application but I have no desire in starting on a project that will become obsolete the minute I send it to the app world due to Android integration.

Also, any requests? I'm currently just trying to think up of a project to work on. So far I'd like to create a Podcast app that lets you add your own podcast URL's. RIM's podcast app is nice but it's missing that crucial ability to add my own podcasts (one I pay for, mainly).

Any other ideas?

Originally Posted by Kevin Michaluk

Few thoughts...

a) you can always blame CEOs for any problems a company has (everything is the responsibility of the guy/guys at the top right? so of course you're right there

b) i don't think your logic is flawed at all there. when RIM made that decision, it was by no means an all in favor decision from the top brass at rim. i hear half the people involved in the decision (not just the CEOs deciding, but the group of people involved) we're in favor, and half we're opposed, exactly for your reasoning. you're right though. let's say you're a company like Coca Cola... and you're going to be doing your app strategy and do some sort of App for the summer (marketing promo kind of thing). You're definitely going to build for iOS and Android... and you're likely going to look at the ROI for a BB app and say... well... if the android app works good enough on BB, we'll just let that one do the job there. so i don't think this was an easily made decision at RIM. and i think there were quite a few ppl initially opposed to it

c) i think the reason they went for it is because Jim Balsillie really wants the "app tonnage" problem to go away. this was the solution to get them there for volume of apps in the app store. but the second part was that for the best/highest performing apps you'd still need to build native

d) i think they're going to really try and address this at devcon next week. curious to see what they say

Originally Posted by Kevin Michaluk

Few thoughts...


c) i think the reason they went for it is because Jim Balsillie really wants the "app tonnage" problem to go away. this was the solution to get them there for volume of apps in the app store. but the second part was that for the best/highest performing apps you'd still need to build native

d) i think they're going to really try and address this at devcon next week. curious to see what they say

With respect to point (d) the following is a snippet from an email recently sent by App World Marketing to all developers:

-------------------------------------------------

Fast Track Your Apps into BlackBerry App World!

Visit the App Express area at the conference. In just a few minutes, you can port your existing Android app to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet or transform an existing web application into a full-fledged app for both the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry smartphone.

Once done, get your app submitted to BlackBerry App World on the spot. Experts from Research In Motion�s� (RIM�) development team and the BlackBerry App World team will be there, ready to help.