Blackberry Development Talk

Free access to MobileCloud for BlackBerry developers from Perfecto Mobile.

Mar 31, 2011 Blackberry Development, News

Perfecto Mobile, provider of cloud-based testing, automation and monitoring solutions for mobile apps and websites, has announced that it will provide free access of its MobileCloud services to BlackBerry developer groups.  BlackBerry app developers will get access 30 free hours of Perfecto’s MobileCloud usage for remote testing and collaboration between group members.  Blackberry developers who want to acquire more hours of MobileCloud services or wish to subscribe to advanced testing services will get discounts up to 30 percent on their purchase.

“Perfecto Mobile’s MobileCloud helps developers test their applications and websites on a wide variety of BlackBerry smartphones from virtually any location around the world,” said Tyler Lessard, vice president of Global Alliances & Developer Relations, Research In Motion.

“MobileCloud can help BlackBerry developers test that they are delivering reliable user experiences with apps that take advantage of unique capabilities and run consistently across different BlackBerry smartphones around the world,” he added.

MobileCloud for BlackBerry developers is a web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that enables easy access to a large number of mobile handsets and tablets connected to mobile networks. It allows BlackBerry developers to simplify development, testing, support and monitoring processes.

Tags: BlackBerry app developer, BlackBerry app development, BlackBerry app testing, blackberry developers

tinyHippos team joins BlackBerry Developer team.

Mar 28, 2011 News

RIM has acquired tinyHippos Inc., makers of mobile environment emulator Ripple. In a post in its blog, RIM’s Tyler Lessard, VP Global Alliances & Developer Relation, writes “ We are pleased to announce that tinyHippos has joined Research In Motion (RIM). We’re excited that the tinyHippos team is joining the BlackBerry Developer team and bringing their expertise in cross-platform emulation environments to the BlackBerry platform.”

He further writes “We have been integrating support for web technologies like HTML5 and BlackBerry WebWorks into our developer platform, and working to continually deliver enhanced tools and frameworks to our developer community. We look forward to working with the team at tinyHippos to further provide a simplified and streamlined experience to our developers.”

A blog post on the tinyHippos website says “We are extremely excited about our future at RIM and continuing to grow and support Ripple. This is a great step towards our goal of providing a cross-platform mobile application development and testing tool to developers worldwide.  Specifically, we will be working to bring BlackBerry support to the Ripple product.

We also want to reassure all new and existing users that we expect that the Ripple product will continue to be offered for download and the team will continue to develop features, provide support, and help grow the mobile application developer community.”

Tags: blackberry developers, RIM, tinyHippos

RIM expands app ecosystem, to provide more commercial opportunities to BlackBerry developers.

Mar 25, 2011 Blackberry Developer, Blackberry Development, News

BlackBerry app developers for the BlackBerry PlayBook will soon get additional tools and opportunities to expand their business. RIM has announced new plans to widen the app ecosystem for its upcoming Tablet.

RIM is planning to launch two optional “app players” that will provide an application run-time environment for Android v2.3 apps and BlackBerry Java apps. The app players will help PlayBook users to download Android apps and BlackBerry Java apps from BlackBerry App World.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet. The power that we have embedded creates one of the most compelling app experiences available in a mobile computing device today,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion.

“The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform,” he added.

Higher degree of AP compatibility in the PlayBook OS will allow BlackBerry Developers to swiftly and effortlessly port their apps.  The app players can be downloaded from BlackBerry App World and will be placed in a secure “sandbox” on the device.

BlackBerry app developers interested in seeing the new app players can see demos at BlackBerry World in Orlando, Florida (May 3 to 5, 2011) (www.blackberryworld.com).

Additionally, RIM will soon release the native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook which will enable C/C++ application development on the Tablet OS. For game developers, RIM has gained support from two leading game development tooling companies which will allow developers to use the cross-platform game engines from Unity Technologies and Ideaworks Labs to bring their games to the PlayBook.

RIM also announced the BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK, which is at present in limited alpha release, will be converted into open Beta by this summer. The NDK will allow app developers to build high-performance, applications with industry standard GNU toolchains create advanced 2D and 3D applications with special effects by making use og programmable shaders available in the OpenGL ES 2.0.

Other features of the upcoming NDK includes:

• QNX POSIX library support and C/C++ compliance for quick and easy application porting and for creating native extensions.
• Easy integration of device events like gesture swipes and touch screen inputs.
• Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tools)
• Debug and analysis tools

“The response to the BlackBerry PlayBook from the developer community has been exceptional. Our commitment to supporting HTML5 and Adobe AIR development has resonated and spurred developers to create fun and innovative applications for BlackBerry PlayBook users,” said David Yach, Chief Technology Officer, Software at Research In Motion.

“The upcoming BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK beta will add C/C++ tools to our repertoire and gives developers one of the broadest and deepest platforms to develop on,” he added.

Source- RIM press release

Tags: Android apps, BlackBerry APP Developers, BlackBerry Java apps, BlackBerry PlayBook apps, BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK

Best Buy begins accepting orders for BlackBerry Playbook from today.

Mar 22, 2011 News

If you are eagerly waiting for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet then you can place your order today.  Best Buy, popular retailer for BlackBerry, has started accepting orders for the Tablet device. BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will come in three models and will be priced at $499, $599 and $699 for 16GB, 32GB and 64 GB model respectively.  It is scheduled to be available at all Best Buy stores and Best Buy Mobile stores in US and Canada on April 19. Customers can place their orders starting today in their local Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile or Future Shop store. They can also place their order on-line (after 8am ET) at:

U.S. – www.bestbuy.com/playbook

Canada – www.bestbuy.ca/blackberry

www.futureshop.ca/blackberry

BlackBerry PlayBook specifications:

• 7″ 1024×600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen
• Ultra-portable at less than a pound and less than one-half inch thick: 0.9 lbs (425g) and 5.1” x 7.6” x 0.4” (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• BlackBerry® Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback
• Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)
• 1080p HDMI output
• Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture (3MP front and 5MP rear)
• 1 GB RAM memory
• Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)
• GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)
• Stereo speakers and stereo microphones
• Wi-Fi® (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity
• Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support

Source- BlackBerry

Tags: BlackBerry Playbook availability, BlackBerry Playbook order, BlackBerry Playbook price

RIM anounces retail outlets for BlackBerry Playbook, prices starting at $499.

Mar 22, 2011 News

Research In Motion today announced that the much-awaited BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will be available in over 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet that is already being widely praised as a multi-tasking powerhouse with an uncompromised web experience and an ultra-portable design,” said Mike Lazaridis, President & Co-CEO, Research In Motion.

“Given the high level of customer interest in the BlackBerry PlayBook, we are particularly pleased to be working with such an amazing lineup of retail partners,” he added.

The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available in three models and will be priced starting at $499 in US and Canada.

BlackBerry PlayBook will be available with the following list of retailers and wireless carriers-

Tags: blackberry playbook, BlackBerry Playbook retail outlets, BlackBerry retail availability Canada, BlackBerry retail availability US

RIM previews BlackBerry 6.1.

Mar 22, 2011 News

EMEA Team Lead for Developer Relations at RIM, Sanyu Kiruluta, provided a preview of the latest BlackBerry 6.1. The BlackBerry 6.1 will include:

• APIs for the device magnetometer and digital compass;
• OpenGL-ES 2.0 support;
• Window API to overlay native app surfaces (media player, camera, browser, etc) with Java UI or OpenGL elements;
• Event-based geo-fencing location APIs;
• Enhancements to the barcode APIs for additional formats and custom decoding;

He said that the supporting tools for BlackBerry developers for the OS will be available soon. The release date for BlackBerry 6.1 is yet to be known.

Sany Kiruluta further added that BlackBerry has no intentions to be an advertising company and will offer a mediation platform with access to other networks. The company is planning to rope in more networks to its platform. RIM will share 60 percent revenue share with BlackBerry developers under the mediation platform system.

Tags: Blackberry 6.1, blackberry developers, RIM

RIM strikes deal with Microsoft for cloud-service.

Mar 18, 2011 News

Research In Motion (RIM) has struck a deal with Microsoft for cloud-service. Microsoft in October has announced its own cloud-service initiative called Microsoft Office 365.  The deal will allows BlackBerry’s corporate clients to shift management of BlackBerry services like email traffic management off-site. And, it will help them substantially reduce their costs on operations.

“We’re embracing [that initiative] in a big way and we’re going out jointly with Microsoft to all our customers,” Jim Tobin, senior VP of RIM’s software and business services unit, told Dow Jones Newswires.

RIM expects around 20 to 25 percent of 55 million BlackBerry customer base to use cloud services by the end of this year.

Analysts are expecting cloud-service to be a major part of growth strategy for players in smartphone and Tablet market. RIM’s current strategy echoes that of rival’s HP which has also announced cloud-service initiatives in future.

Tags: cloud service, Microsoft, RIM

RIM urges BlackBerry users to disable Java script.

Mar 17, 2011 News

With the unexpected problems unearthed from the Pwn2own hackers, Reasearch in motion (RIM) urges BlackBerry users and IT departments to turn off the Javascript in their mobiles.

If the users visit “maliciously designed” web site from the BlackBerry browser then hacker can access user’s data. BlackBerry OS 6 is designed in such a way that it can access the data in devices that utilize the WebKit browser engine. So devices with OS 6 installed in them are vulnerable to the virus.

According to RIM, hackers can get access to data stored on device’s media cards and built-in media storage but data on the application storage portion of the phone, such as user data stored by e-mail, calendar and contact applications will not be accessible. Till now no complaint has been reported.

Specific guide lines to disable Javascript are given to IT departments and users for BlackBerry devices including recent releases like Torch 9800,  Bold 9700 Curve 9300. If disabling Javascript doesn’t work,RIM has recommended its customers not to use BlackBerry browser till the vulnerability is patched.

Tags: blackberry, BlackBerry users, RIM

RIM releases BBM Social Platform Beta for BlackBerry developers.

Mar 16, 2011 Blackberry Developer, Blackberry Development, News

Research In Motion (RIM) has released the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) Social Platform- Beta for BlackBerry developers. The BBM Social Platform will allow BlackBerry platform developers to add social Super App features to their apps.

According to BlackBerry’s developer’s blog, the beta will aid developers to accomplish the following:

• Access and update fields in the user’s profile such as status, avatar and personal message;
• Create their own custom areas within the user’s profile for promoting recent application activity or storing trophies and achievements;
• Initiate and embed chats with friends;
• Initiate application-to-application background communication through BBM for sending and receiving application instructions, such as moves in a game or any other application state changes;
• Initiate file transfers;
• The ability to share applications virally with friends in their contact list.

The beta also includes special simulators for BlackBerry OS 5.0 and 6.0 that will allow for simulation of BBM communication between two instances of the simulator and help developers in testing the exact workflow and BBM integration on a live device.

While the recently released beta is for Java developers, RIM will release another beta in April 2011 which will provide full support for the BlackBerry WebWorks platform.

Tags: BBM Social Platform Beta, BlackBerry APP Developers, BlackBerry app development, RIM

New Updates for BlackBerry developers from RIM.

Mar 9, 2011 News

RIM has announced some new updates for BlackBerry developers to make the app submission process simpler and easy. As per the new updates posted on its blog, BlackBerry developers will no longer be required to produce a notarized proof of identity to participate in BlackBerry App World. Now, they can simply fax or e-mail a copy of their driver’s license. However, businesses will still be required to validate their information through Articles of Incorporation, Business License, etc., to distribute their apps in BlackBerry’s app store.

The log post says that this is an interim measure and the company is looking for a sound long-term solution towards it. RIM is also working on providing a fully automated online process.

RIM has also extended the free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet offer deadline to March 31st to ensure that all BlackBerry app developers have an opportunity to participate and to get their apps submitted for BlackBerry PlayBook.

Tags: BlackBerry APP Developers, Blackberry app world updates, blackberry developers, RIM developers updates, RIM updates