Research In Motion (RIM) says Web-based applications can now access the same APIs and phone functionality on its BlackBerry handsets as Java-based ones. The company announced WebWorks, a toolset for building applications for the BlackBerry that only uses HTML5, CSS and Javascript, but can be packaged up as a full BlackBerry application.
The company says developers now have a comprehensive toolset for creating rich applications that offer customers the benefits of deep integration with core BlackBerry features, including multitasking, push technology and access to the full range of BlackBerry services.
“BlackBerry developers have discovered the value of building Web applications that can leverage the unique characteristics of the BlackBerry platform, such as running in always-on mode and integrating with native BlackBerry applications,” says David Yach, CTO for software at RIM.
“The new BlackBerry WebWorks platform takes the power of existing Web tools and enhances and adds to them in order to allow developers to build sophisticated applications using their existing HTML5 skill sets with no compromise in functionality or performance.”
Alan Brenner, senior VP for the BlackBerry Platform at RIM, says Web development was a faster and more flexible option.
"We want developers to be able to work in Web-development cycle times rather than Java development cycle times," he said. "But WebWorks still offers the same scope and capabilities."
BlackBerry WebWorks also includes updates to the Web application packager, new Web APIs and the BlackBerry Web Plug-Ins 2.5.
RIM is working with the open source developer community to allow developers to access and contribute to the BlackBerry open Web application platform and tooling components and share in the evolution of the Web platform.
In addition to sharing source code for the BlackBerry Web platform, RIM is also working with open source JavaScript framework companies DoJo, GitHub, JQuery, Nitobi and Sencha to encourage developers to create Web applications with advanced Web and AJAX functionality.
“RIM has always firmly supported industry standards and believes in embracing the needs of the developer community,” says Brenner. “We started supporting open source communities through our work on the BlackBerry 6 WebKit browser and the response from the open source community has already been very positive. We are tremendously excited to see where the developer community will take this initiative and the code that we are presenting.”
Developers welcomed the move, but said there was one piece of the puzzle missing.
"It's great that I can use HTML and Javascript for app development," says Mike Uricau, head of R&D for global software marketing. "Now RIM needs to incorporate the SQLite database into the operating system so that large data sets can be processed very quickly on-device."
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