The best developer success story I've read yetAugust 30, 2012
Boom!Inspiring!
Submitted iTunes Sync for BB10August 29, 2012
I spent 8 hours today getting iTunes Sync up and running properly on the Dev Alpha, and submitted it for approval to App World. A milestone! Feels good to have that done.
I wish there was an easy way to offer paid apps to Dev Alpha users for free. I could create a new product in App World to do that, but that's extra hassle, and it might confuse users searching on the web and seeing a free version of iTunes Sync.
I still wish it was possible to write background / service apps for BB10. If it were, I'd be tempted to rewrite iTunes Sync as a native app and make it capable of syncing new songs onto your phone automatically. From there, it would be a fun challenge to write a fully featured wireless sync app that would pull down music and photos from a variety of sources, and do it all seamlessly in the background when on Wi-Fi. But alas, as I understand, it won't be possible to write background apps for BB10, at least not at launch.
Update: Live on App World for dev alpha users.
Will BB10 have the big-name apps?August 29, 2012
I just read
this nice write up. More impressions from hands on use of BB10 by the press.
As the author asks, I am very anxious about whether BB10 will have big name apps at launch. Yes, RIM is doing a fantastic job at courting developers, giving out free hardware, putting on great jam events, etc, but that doesn't at all answer the question of whether BB10 will have Netflix, Skype, Flipboard, Instagram, etc.
Here are a list of important targets for BB10 to hit that are either already confirmed or are very likely:
  | Very fast CPU. (confirmed) |
| Beautiful, very high res display. (confirmed) |
| Great software development platform. (confirmed) |
| Fresh user experience. (very likely) |
| Very high productivity device. (very likely) |
| First class support for both full-touch and keyboard devices. (confirmed) |
| Ideal platform for game development and porting games. (confirmed, at least in many respects) |
The fact that BB10 most likely has all of the above is an incredible foundation for a phone... but it doesn't represent all of the important targets:
| Fantastic camera: Who knows? Will it be comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S III camera or the iPhone 4S camera? |
| Really great wireless syncing (unlikely) |
| Netflix: Who knows? |
| Skype: Who knows? |
| Flipboard: Who knows? |
| Instagram: Who knows? |
| Angry Birds (very likely) |
| Other big name apps: The above are some of the massively important big name apps, but it wouldn't be hard to come up with a list of another 10 really important apps that would be hugely helpful to have on the platform. |
| A good selection of other quality apps, even if they aren't necessarily big name apps (hopefully) |
I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that BB10 will have Netflix at launch. The reason I think this is that:
| RIM's software development platform and tools are now top notch. When PlayBook was first released, there wasn't even an NDK, and so for Netflix to build a PlayBook app would have been almost impossible. But we're finally at the place where it should be pretty darn easy for Netflix to build an app for BB10 and PlayBook. |
| Secondly, I think RIM, with almost 2 billion in cash, is probably (hopefully) willing to make an investment in this if needed. It's just too symbolicly awful to release a phone in 2012 that doesn't have Netflix. |
As for Skype, I have no idea. There was some weird wispering that RIM was working with Microsoft to embed Skype functionality into its Video Chat app. Let's hope that is accurate. Again, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that BB10 will have Skype support of some kind. As for Netflix, I think it's just too risky to imagine RIM not doing what's necessary to make sure this happens. On the flip side, the fact that Microsoft now owns Skype might be problematic. What if, for competitive reasons, Microsoft puts their foot down and won't allow it? (scary thought) Let's hope for the best.
I'm going to guess that BB10 won't have Flipboard. Android only got it recently, and I think it's exclusive to Samsung phones. We'll see.
Instagram. I feel like RIM has a fairly healthy relationship with Facebook, so maybe, just maybe they will pull this off. Let's hope so. It would be huge. And along with this, let's hope that RIM has a great camera in BB10.
What about other big name apps? RIM has been doing incredibly well recently with so many developer relations hires, fantastic software tools, etc. In other words, they are doing everything they can. Unfortunately, this is one area that I'm pretty anxious about. We just don't know. How successful will they be at courting those other big name apps?
And finally, will there be a good selection of quality not-big-name apps? Again, who knows, but RIM is doing everything in their power to ensure this. I just wish they had been able to finalize and present the details on their $10,000 offer a couple of months ago. (and I've communicated this to them) We'll have to wait and see, but on a positive note, I won't be surprised if they're successful with this since devs have had a decent amount of time, have had real hardware, and the jam events have been so well attended.
We are still several months away from launch. Many unanswered questions, but the potential is there for RIM to nail all of the big targets. And if they do, BB10 could be huge.
One last thing to ponder: Will BB10 have really great wireless syncing akin to iOS? In 2012, this kind of seamlessness is important to users. Because RIM has so much on their plate, I tend to think they won't deliver on this. Not that I'm complaining as a dev, since iTunes Sync represents most of my revenue. But that aside, I think this is a very important area for RIM. It's not the end of the world if a third party brings this functionality, but the limitation that BB10 won't support background apps at launch means that it will be impossible to write a true first-class syncing app for the platform. Bummer. If it were possible, I would be very tempted to put real weight behind that use case.
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