And we don't make it lightly. We see opportunities in the future that justify that level of investment. For RIM to have app developers this excited is a remarkable turnaround from even a few years ago, when the company was almost totally focused on e-mail and messaging functions, and obsessed with stopping non-essential software from draining the BlackBerry's battery life.
But there are numerous reasons for the dearth of apps on BlackBerrys. RIM's executives originally dismissed apps — and Apple Inc. This was partially because smartphones were still then mainly a tool for bankers and politicians. But as consumers began buying smartphones by the millions, the variety of BlackBerrys hitting the market began to multiply: Curves, Pearls, Bolds, and the Torch, almost all of them with different screen sizes, keyboard types and processing power. This greatly complicates the life of developers, who want to maximize the reach of each app and work in a booming, competitive, fast-moving industry where every hour of each employee's day has to be spent carefully.
Big-name app developers skipped over RIM's platform, while the majority of apps in BlackBerry App World either looked old or crashed the phone once they were installed or used. One only has to look to the failure of RIM's PlayBook tablet to see what happens when a product launches in the post-iPhone era without apps: The lack of great additional software depresses sales, which in turn deprives the platform of the scale necessary to attract new developers — a full circle, self-reinforcing failure.
The BlackBerry's failure to gain great apps was also a classic innovator's dilemma: RIM has long used the Java platform for software that needed to keep being supported, whereas Apple and Google launched their own platforms much later. Though it is an open question whether apps will be as important to the next five years of smartphones as they were to the five years since the launch of the iPhone in , it was clear RIM had to do something dramatically different. Enter Alec Saunders.
RIM's fresh-faced, entrepreneurial vice-president of developer relations, arrived in September, , and immediately set on expanding the company's efforts to woo app makers over to RIM's platform. Saunders' team targeted 17 countries that represented the bulk of developers around the world. He began hiring developer outreach people in many of these markets, particularly Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. He expanded his team from 37 people to about today, and travelled the world holding developer conferences.
In early October he had accrued the , flight miles necessary for Air Canada's Super Elite status; by the first week of December, he had , miles. There has also been another focus: Building up a presence for developers in the U. Saunders said, noting they now have people on both coasts, as well as elsewhere in the U.
Google play suggests that you should not download android apps directly from third-party sources, as they may harm your phone. Android operating system uses its own type of installation format, as like windows softwares have. When you download an app from Google play store, it is downloaded and installed in APK format.
You will not see the file directly when you download it from play store. At times you may want to download APK files from other sources directly. Advantages: You can download any version of the app directly from third-party websites.
They may have app archives of most versions and you can download the one you may need. Downloading is instant unlike play store, no need to wait for the verifcation process etc.
So you can uninstall and re-install as many as times without needing to download. Disadvantages: Downloading apps from third-party sources usually are not verified by Google.
So can be harmful to your phone. It's also the most commonly targeted online financial service by an equally significant margin. PayPal does a good job of educating its customers to the threats of phishing and identity theft related to its service--check your e-mail filter, I can practically guarantee some of them use PayPal as bait--but there's only so much it can do.
I'm not saying RIM should ditch PayPal altogether, but it should definitely offer some additional payment options, like Google Checkout, for those of use who'd rather avoid PayPal altogether. BlackBerry devices are everywhere; CrackBerry Nation spans all global boundaries. But I do know that App World could certainly benefit from a wider global users base. More users would have access to more software. Developers would have more eyes looking at their offerings and, potentially, more wallets opening up to pay for them.
And RIM would take in more profit as a result. Everyone wins. Shout out to Funaki , who's in Bahrain, but would very much like to give App World a test drive. I've been saying it since the April launch: BlackBerry App World desperately needs more flatulence-simulation applications, aka, fart apps.
Right now, there are only four such apps available on App World, compared to the dozen on the iTunes App Store. Fart apps are the foundation of any quality mobile software store, and RIM and its BlackBerry developer base would be wise to ramp up production of such offerings. Note: I'm being facetious here, and I think that's clear Former CIO. Al also managed CIO. Al resides in Boston and is a passionate reader, traveler, beer lover and Red Sox fan.
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