Research In Motion (RIM) has opened a BlackBerry App World vendor portal to begin accepting BlackBerry PlayBook apps from developers.
RIM has also outlined how developers can become eligible to get a free PlayBook if their app is submitted and approved for distribution on BlackBerry App World prior to the release of the PlayBook in North America.
“Interest and momentum behind the BlackBerry PlayBook continues to build and we are thrilled with the positive response from both the developer community and our customers,” says Tyler Lessard, vice-president of Global Alliances and Developer Relations at RIM.
“With its groundbreaking performance and robust support for industry standard development tools, the BlackBerry PlayBook provides an exceptional platform that appeals to a wide range of mobile app developers, including Adobe AIR and Flash developers, HTML Web developers, corporate developers and application hobbyists.”
He adds that the company is very pleased to be working with developers in advance of the product release and the opening of BlackBerry App World to accept PlayBook apps is an important next step.
RIM also recently released an update to the beta version of the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR. The update now supports Flash Builder 4.5 with plug-ins that work with either Flash Builder 4.0 or the pre-release version of Flash Builder Burrito.
The company says support for Flash Builder Burrito adds drag and drop capabilities, making it even easier and faster for developers to build applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook. The latest beta of the SDK also supports Windows in 64-bit and includes a simulator for Linux.
“Developing for the PlayBook has been a pleasurable experience. The APIs are straightforward and optimised for the device and the environment is cross-platform,” says Jerome Carty, president of JCX Systems, a Java control systems provider.
“The thing that impresses me the most is the potential for the hardware. The gestures for the PlayBook make the device feel as though you have unlimited surface area since they extend beyond the screen to the bezel. This will make for a fun and unique experience for developers and end-users.”
Randy Troppman, founder of route mapping site RunningMap says: “The BlackBerry PlayBook has some stellar hardware specs which will support Adobe AIR quite well.
“I recompiled several of my AIR apps with the BlackBerry Tablet OS AIR SDK and they worked the first time. Unmodified. Piece of cake. Now I just need to take advantage of the BlackBerry PlayBook's touch screen to take these apps to the next level.”
"Model Metrics is thrilled to be working to deliver scalable enterprise applications on the BlackBerry PlayBook,” says John Barnes, CTO of cloud provider Model Metrics.
“The ease of development and deployment sets a new bar for the tablet market and Model Metrics is looking forward to offering the 2GO platform for the BlackBerry PlayBook.”
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