[OttawaGabe]

If you were a _new_ developer from another platform, what's the first impression you would have of the Playbook App World? Does that strike you as a place you want to do business in? Especially if your other platform is iOS, then the cringe factor will be especially strong.

In market research, how well do you think their product will be represented when it's lumped in with what's there now. Lost in a pile of crap is the first image that comes to my mind. I'm finding CB of a lot more use when trying to find useful apps, than scrolling or search thru App World.

I actually do work for a developer - we have a BB app, but it's a vertical market app that ties to an ERP system, so we bypass the App World. We could have put out a Playbook app, but it was promised that BB apps would run on the Playbook, so there was no need to port. Months later, when nothing happens, the issue just died on the vine. We get more requests for iOS now.

[yorkshireman2]

The OP is right about Crackberry being of more use for finding good apps. App World is now so populated with garbage and dubious reviews it is a nightmare to wade through. And all of those crappy Android apps have made it even worse.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. RIM needs to be a lot more selective of what goes in.

2. RIM needs to insist on screenshots. What's so hard about getting a screenshot.

3. RIM needs to be able to list ALL new apps in date order. I check App World regularly, but will miss any new app that wasn't amongst the last 25 (this is ludicrous RIM!!!)

4. An icon needs to indicate if an app is an Android port.

5. RIM needs to give new devs a seriously large share of revenues for first 6 or 12 months. I'd say go as high as 90% at the moment, so as to gain some traction and help developers make some money on the BB platform (both PB and BB phone apps)

[BuzzStarField]

The OP is right about Crackberry being of more use for finding good apps. App World is now so populated with garbage and dubious reviews it is a nightmare to wade through. And all of those crappy Android apps have made it even worse.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. RIM needs to be a lot more selective of what goes in.

2. RIM needs to insist on screenshots. What's so hard about getting a screenshot.

3. RIM needs to be able to list ALL new apps in date order. I check App World regularly, but will miss any new app that wasn't amongst the last 25 (this is ludicrous RIM!!!)

4. An icon needs to indicate if an app is an Android port.

5. RIM needs to give new devs a seriously large share of revenues for first 6 or 12 months. I'd say go as high as 90% at the moment, so as to gain some traction and help developers make some money on the BB platform (both PB and BB phone apps)

I'll try to respond to your suggestions in order:

1. If RIM had been highly selective with apps at launch last year, very few would have been accepted. My own app was nothing to write home about. There are many "excuses" for my less-than-adequate offering but nonetheless, I would not be developing for this platform were I not been given an opportunity to grow.

2. Again, a developer must be allowed to grow. Not every developer is a capable marketer. Screen shots and app descriptions are part of marketing. Promotion requires skills that may not come naturally with a first app. Imposing unreasonably high "standards" would exclude most new developers.

3. App World should be improved; there is no doubt about it. We need better search tools and filters.The review process needs to be improved and RIM has to provide more marketing services to help new developers learn the trade. I find that the recent changes in PB app world make it much easier for non-gamers to find my app. I hope RIM continues to tweak the digital store but I think that they are still experimenting to find a suitable format for the tablet.

4. RIM needs to improve the Android player so that an Android app behaves and performs like any other "native" app on the platform. There should be no second-class apps in the ecosystem.

5. The developer's share is adequate and consistent with other platforms. No developer that I know of is complaining. And a few more percentage points on low sales numbers is not much of a financial incentive anyway. A better thing for RIM to do is to develop the tool set and developer supports and equally importantly continue to grow the user base by selling lots of PlayBooks. And let's get BB10 phones to market for crying out loud. One downside of paying a larger percentage for new apps is related to the fact that some new apps sell heavily at first because of clever marketing manipulation. Faddish/gimmicky apps sell very well for a short time and then lose favour with consumers. Rewarding this kind of marketing wold be a big mistake and cause resentment in the developer community.

[SCrid2000]

I agree with BuzzStarField on all of that, except that I do think RIM should require at least one screenshot. A screenshot is easy to include, and they already require a "featured image" with a super weird aspect ratio. That being said, if it's free you don't really need a screenshot, and if it's not free just don't install it if it doesn't have a screenshot.
I'd like to see an indication of whether an app is a ported android app, but it's not really necessary, the Android player works fairly well (as well as most android devices ).

[app_Developer]

I also agree with BuzzStarField except for the screenshot issue. There's no reason a developer, or anyone who can use a computer for that matter, can't upload a screenshot.

[BuzzStarField]

I also agree with BuzzStarField except for the screenshot issue. There's no reason a developer, or anyone who can use a computer for that matter, can't upload a screenshot.

I appreciate other developers chiming in here. I agree with the need for at least one sceenshot. Whenever RIM gets around the image quality problem in App World, I think it would also be helpful for RIM to release some guidelines around best practices for App World assets like descriptions, app names, screenshots, icons etc. But I am not in favour of enforced standards. I don't like big brother watching me. Actually some of these are scattered around the vendor portal but they are not easy to find.

Also I would like to see some enforceable standards around review manipulation by shady developers and submitting multiple identical apps with different content (app spamming). These vendors give us all a bad name and something should be done about it. However, this may be a slippery slope and may to contrary to my own opposition with strict standards (point #1 in the list). What do you think?

[smartie88]

These this may be true. But how do you respond to the OP's question? Why are there not more apps in App World? All of the things you mention point to incompetent and dishonest developers. Except your reference to reviews which points to consumer incompetence since buyers write them. If you were in charge of RIM's policies, what steps would you take to fix the problems?

See, if you want to be a developer, you have to decide which platform( language) you want to learn , this is basically an investment or career selection. So which one you want to go: 1: today's best and probably will be the best for awhile. 2: probably tomorrow's best or 3: yesterday's best?

[JamesDax3]

If I were a developer why would I develop any native apps for the Blackberry Playbook when I could delelope the app for Andriod and then just repackage it for the Playbook Android Player? There is NO incentive to develope native apps for the Playbook and RIM did this to themselves. Perhaps when/if BB10 takes off things will turn around.

[SlcCorrado]

See, if you want to be a developer, you have to decide which platform( language) you want to learn , this is basically an investment or career selection. So which one you want to go: 1: today's best and probably will be the best for awhile. 2: probably tomorrow's best or 3: yesterday's best?

If I were a developer why would I develop any native apps for the Blackberry Playbook when I could delelope the app for Andriod and then just repackage it for the Playbook Android Player? There is NO incentive to develope native apps for the Playbook and RIM did this to themselves. Perhaps when/if BB10 takes off things will turn around.

You guys can hate all you want, but I doubt you will be having the last laugh

[JamesDax3]

You guys can hate all you want, but I doubt you will be having the last laugh

I am niether hating or looking to have the last laugh. I was simply giving my opinion on the matter.

[BuzzStarField]

See, if you want to be a developer, you have to decide which platform( language) you want to learn , this is basically an investment or career selection. So which one you want to go: 1: today's best and probably will be the best for awhile. 2: probably tomorrow's best or 3: yesterday's best?

Do you mean that I should dump COBOL in favour of FORTRAN? Or the other way around?

[JerryButtons]

If I were a developer why would I develop any native apps for the Blackberry Playbook when I could delelope the app for Andriod and then just repackage it for the Playbook Android Player? There is NO incentive to develope native apps for the Playbook and RIM did this to themselves.

I have to agree 100% that the Android Emulator was a bad idea for two reasons:

1. It creates NO incentive for a developer to create a native app when they can easily port it over from an android app, kind of like killing two birds with one stone.
2. The Android Emulator takes the user away from the QNX experience (don't have to explain why this is a very bad thing). If I wanted an Android OS experience, I would have bought a Galaxy Tab instead.

If I were RIM, I would be tirelessly trying to figure out how to get popular apps made native for the Playbook or a way to have ported Android apps feel more integrated into QNX and have the emulator be completely in the background so you don't even know your in the Android Emulator. If this is even possible.

[masqueofhastur]

There is a reason to develop native apps for the PlayBook. If your app is of a type with 20 or 50 competitors on Android or iOS, and on the PB there's only Android ports, a native app might be what it takes for discerning PB users to buy it, and it could end up being the most popular app of that kind on the PB. Then if you take it to Android or iOS, you have a soft sell as an app users on another platform have selected as their favourite.