[crazlunatic]

People are complaining about the app library of the Playbook, and consumers are hoping this problem will fix itself.

Let me ask everyone one question: Why would developers WANT to develop for the Playbook?

Edit: The Playbook will support a feature that will allow Android devs to not rewrite code entirely in order to port over an app to the playbook. If you were a developer and spent a month developing a killer app, next thing you know, Android support is added and a complete substitute of the app is ported over. Furthermore, that app is several years old and has the backing of a big app development firm.

There is just too much risk. I can't be the only one who has thought of this paradox. What does everyone else think?

[Smiley88]

yes this is a scary thought for all developers and even BlackBerry developers. If RIM can do this on the PB what stop RIM from having Android apps running on the actual Blackberry? this could be the death for small time developers who develop on the BB for a living.

There is no way to compete with 300K free apps.

[mynameisme]

There will always be an advantage to Native apps. This has been covered many times before, so I won't go into the details.
Deving for the PlayBook is a great idea because you can be a "first-comer" to a new app ecosystem that will be coming to BB phones.

[tcesar888]

People are complaining about the app library of the Playbook, and consumers are hoping this problem will fix itself.

Let me ask everyone one question: Why would developers WANT to develop for the Playbook?

The Playbook is rumored to have the ability to run Android Apps virtually in the future. If you were a developer and spent a month developing a killer app, next thing you know, Android support is added and a complete substitute of the app is ported over. Furthermore, that app is several years old and has the backing of a big app development firm.

There is just too much risk. I can't be the only one who has thought of this paradox. What does everyone else think?

But on the other hand, maybe the Android compatibility mode feature may be a dog. Usually non native apps don't run as well IMHO. We'll see; but I do get your point.

[Thumbtyper]

yes this is a scary thought for all developers and even BlackBerry developers. If RIM can do this on the PB what stop RIM from having Android apps running on the actual Blackberry? this could be the death for small time developers who develop on the BB for a living.

There is no way to compete with 300K free apps.

I think you missed the point. If rim adopts android apps ( i am sceptical) the qnx os becomes irrrelevant to devs and consumers. Not to mention enterprise.

[greatwiseone]

If you look at how rim is doing the android apps support, only pure dalvik java apps will be supported. So, a developer who wants to tap in to the power of the playbook and haven't his app downloaded/bought, the developer would probably want to use the native sdk or modify his app for android to hook into the playbook's capability outside of the android app player.

[DenverRalphy]

IMHO, I strongly feel RIM made a really bold statement and are making a dangerous gamble in their claims to run Android apps. I have seen numerous attempts, and never complete success, with one OS attempting to provide support for programs developed for another OS. This after seeing numerous attempts from others who made similar claims.

Emulators have met a certain amount of popularity, however beyond a hobbyist user who's willing to tolerate many many bugs, it's not reliable. Beyond an emulator, the best option is a virtual machine. Unfortunately, unless you're utilizing a machine that's built to support and accommodate the resources required to run two operating systems simultaneously; I don't see it happening.

I'd love to see RIM prove me wrong, as I'd be tickled pink to be able to own a handheld device that could reliably run two OS's at the same time AND be able to multi-task the apps running between each OS simultaneously. However, I just don't see it happening anytime soon.

My prediction... Supporting Android Apps will see a small amount of success, but will be a longtime perpetual project that never seems to fully succeed, and developers don't take it too seriously.

[jasperlin]

onegood reason is bc there are so little apps out there and a consumer base that is starving for some high quality apps they would have the chance to ne a big fish in a small pond rather that try to compete within those two extremely bloated markets

[Kerms]

I'm going to echo what a few said here and I've said this in other threads. RIM probably should have held off on the Android stuff and concentrated on native QNX apps.

If I'm already an Android dev and all I have to do is repackage my source code and get it on the PB then why would I put in the time to learn the native code. Devs will get lazy code an android app, repack and sell in both markets.

Yes it will allow you to do more with the device if you use the native code but at some point name recognition from your past android apps will take you further.

If it get's to the point that the majority of the apps are Android app it really becomes more a less an Android hybrid tablet more so that a RIM QNX one IMO

Guess we'll see

[boldman4]

I agree with the sentiment that leaning on Android to inflate the "tonnage" of apps is a very slippery road for QNX.

Let's say I'm currently an android developer with a successful app. If RIM didn't announce Android emulator support, and the playbook sold millions in a couple of months, I would haul my **** to rewrite my code to run natively on QNX, with full hardware acceleration, where applicable.

But, now RIM has announced Android emulation, so now, all I would have to do is port the app to work on the emulator, saving man hours and money. I'm assuming I would do this no matter the success or failure of playbook sales. Now, the important question: if the playbook sells millions in the next couple of months, would a developer rewrite his code to run on QNX natively, or is the emulation good enough for everyone here.

That's the quandary that RIM has introduced, and I'm not sure they completely thought about the consequences.

Lastly, didn't Lazardis once claim that all people want are web apps?

[egranlund]

Lastly, didn't Lazardis once claim that all people want are web apps?

I think Steve Jobs said the same thing with the first iPhone....

They both found out pretty fast that's not true :P

[TheMarco]

I think Steve Jobs said the same thing with the first iPhone....

They both found out pretty fast that's not true :P

Yeah but this is different. On the PlayBook you can have 'web apps' that are still on-device and have access to all hardware. This is NOT the same as the crappy iphone-optimized web services the iPhone 1 started it's life with. These on-device apps can do pretty much everything native apps can except for hardcore graphics performance.

HTML5 is becoming more and more interesting for anything that doesn't need said graphics performance. It's no miracle that products like PhoneGap are popular. You write an app in HTML/CSS/JS and deploy it anywhere.

I already felt the benefits of the whole HTML approach myself because two of my apps are based on apps I already had on Palm/HP WebOS which is in many ways very similar to BlackBerry WebWorks. (Actually to be fair, WebOS is a lot better at the moment but this is a matter of being much more mature at this point).

So anyway, Web Apps. For the WIN. On any platform.

[BB.David]

Technically, wouldn't it be easier to develop for the PlayBook since it's only 1 device, 1 screen resolution, 1 OS version at a time?

Will the current PlayBook apps be compatible with smaller devices (QNX BlackBerry phones)?

But of course - Android has many, many more users = more developers. That being said, the Android Market doesn't hold a candle to Apple's App Store.

[Pegasus829]

This is only for very low level applications and not for large apps. We're talking silly mindless apps such as 'torch' or 'fart' apps.

[Skeevecr]

The android stuff will help to inflate the number of apps making the platform more appealing to customers, which will in turn make native apps more appealing to devs since the best apps are going to attract more attention and hence sales from those customers.

Now obviously, some apps that don't push the hardware are going to be fine as repackaged android apps, but in the long run devs will recognise that putting in a bit more effort could result in a lot more sales when they stand out from the crowd.

If you look at the 300k apps on ios or android, just think how few new ones actually stand out and make their devs much money, if they aren't a featured app, a sequel or a licence than most of them probably slip by without notice.

[dandbj13]

I just have to say that relying on another platform for your app ecosystem is insane. It is the white flag. Relying on Android apps is even more insane, especially for BB. First, Android app developers don't make a lot of money on the apps. Android customers don't like to spend money. Instead, the apps are financed by in-app-purchases and, wait for it, ads. Will RIM adopt the exact same implementation of iip and ads so that the apps work exactly the same?

Second, Android apps are not all that good, just plentiful. An Android phone is like a jailbroken iPhone. The Android marketplace is more like Cydia. Sure, there are ad supported versions of many of the good apps from Apple's App Store. But what mostly fills the Android store are apps that would never make it into the App Store. There are also tons of customization type apps to fix the keyboard and other system level elements that you may want to replace with something better. Oh, and don't forget the themes. Enjoy rummaging through the iOS reject bin.

Finally, there is the little matter of security. Do you really want Android apps anywhere near a BB without a condom?

OK, some of my criticism may be a bit harsh. That is what happens when I post before my first cup of coffee. Still, there are a few nuggets of truth that should be concerning to anyone who cares about the BB identity and platform. To paraphrase, (mangle) the old saying, if you lie down with dogs, you wake up with Android apps on your BB.

[sportline]

not much do we really need anyway..news (social feeds or pulse will do, rss reader), instapaper, couple games perhaps. magazine subscription is a must. the rest is bonuses..i found that most apps i donwloaded in my ipad is just junk or compulsive buy/download. at the end of the day its information overload, too much.
android apps are mostly half baked (been there since nexus one days), never ending updates (gingerbread anyone? or maybe stale yoghurt?) and battery life is terrible.
from all newsfeed experiences accross apple/bb/android i found social feed as the best.simple and fast.

[forsakenwaste5]

seriously? duh to make it more powerful!! crackberry you should teach us!! the blackberry videos are very confusing.

we should all come together and develop apps

[Cynn]

It seems like a lot of the criticism here is that Android Apps will be phone developed, underpowered and take attention away from QNX. I agree there. But what if support continues to grow to say, Honeycomb Tablet apps as well? That's assuming that they could run well under emulation of course.

I could see Android app makers noticing the numbers of AppWorld downloads on their free programs and consider making a paid QNX optimized version. Why not?

If I were RIM I'd be looking over all of the important iOS and Android app developers and saying "Hey, your app is great! How about we help you for free to port that to QNX? Here's some free tools. Let's be pals!" I don't see why app developers would want to ignore QNX. Next year BB phones will start having the OS and opening up a whole new world of customers.

Let's face it, most app devs don't support BlackBerry not so much due to numbers but an archaic OS and phone hardware. Next year I believe this will be changing. When BlackBerry hardware and software are on par with most Androids and Apple phones native support will come.

[Pete6]

"If you build it, they will come.", seems to be the movie line that fits best here. Developers will write apps to fill a need. That need might be to fulfil a user need or a developer might just try to make money from writing apps.

Android apps that will run on the PlayBook are a nice plus but I have the feeling that whilst they might run, they may not be all that great. The low poer of most phone CPUs and the smaller, fixed screen size may will limit the pleasure of running phone apps on the PlayBook.

I actually think that the question posed by the OP in this thread is premature - like many others in Crackberry. Rgight now, we just do not know enough about the PlayBook platform and its evolution. Only time will tell so we shall just have to wait and see.

[sportline]

App developers will definitely offering their products across different platform - as we the users jumping different platform tryin to find the best suite.
Archaic or stale or old or whatever it is doesnnt really matters. As i get older i noticed getting less patience and shorter attention span..so 50 apps on my ipad start looking stupid since i never even remember most of it - at the end of the day we all can live with less than ten.
Let apple seduce kids with 100million farting apps.most business people don.t even have time to fart.