BlackberryDeveloperConference
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RIM announces WebWorks development kit, in-app payments, ad platform, and BBM API
RIM's BlackBerry Developer Conference is going down this week in San Francisco, and as you might expect from a developer-focused event, there are a handful of newsy items that'll affect the development community first and consumers down the road. Here's a roundup of what's what: WebWorks development platform. From what we've heard of this so far, it's basically a quick way for web devs to get into the BlackBerry app game by offering a tightly-integrated platform for HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript code with hooks to native BlackBerry OS functions and a packager for turning them into "real" BlackBerry apps. BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform. RIM's historically held BBM very, very close to the chest, but it's starting to open up a tad with this particular announce. Don't look for BBM on other platforms (yes, we know that's what some of you were hoping to hear), but third-party app developers will now be able to tap into the system for sending and receiving messages, files, user profiles, and invitations. Interestingly, the company is pitching it as a platform for multiplayer gaming, using BBM as a conduit to move information between devices in real time. BlackBerry Advertising Service. Google bought AdMob and Apple bought Quattro, but RIM's taking a more democratic approach to its advertising platform, allowing both "simple" and "rich media" ads to be served from a handful of providers "with only three lines of code." It'll be a 60 / 40 revenue split between devs and RIM. BlackBerry Payment Service SDK. This one's launching in beta this week, bringing third-party in-app payments over credit card, PayPal, and carrier billing (available on AT&T right now, more carriers by the end of the year). It'll be out of beta before 2010's out. Nothing on the so-called BlackPad so far, but at any rate, seems like this roundup is great news for anyone looking to slide some content into App World over the next few months.
Live from the BlackBerry Developer Conference 2010 keynote!
We're seated in the blogger pit (which bears no resemblance to a casino pit, sadly) at the General Session of RIM's BlackBerry Developer Conference; it's scheduled to run a mind-boggling two and a half hours, but co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is scheduled to speak, so things could get interesting. Tune on in!
RIM unveils tighter Adobe partnership, new app payment platform, OpenGL ES support, more
There aren't any new devices in the mix, but RIM has unleashed a torrent of BlackBerry OS-related news today at its BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco that's sure to make devs happy in the short term -- and you know how that goes: when devs are happy, it doesn't take long before end users reap the benefits. Here are the highlights: BlackBerry devices running OS 5.0 and higher will be able to benefit from OpenGL ES support, the 3D platform used by many of the world's high-power smartphones for delivering killer games. There's a beta of the SDK already, so let's get cracking, everyone -- we need some first-person shooters that totally negate BlackBerry's ultra-productive image. A new plugin for the Eclipse development environment should make building BlackBerry app GUIs easier than ever, which should hopefully lead to prettier apps; it'll be available in mid-2010. BlackBerry Theme Studio is now available, simplifying theme creation with support for changing the home screen layout, fonts, icons, colors, cursors, and more; it supports BlackBerry OS 4.2.2 and higher, which means that virtually every BlackBerry in a pocket (or holster) today should be able to take advantage. The timing's perfect on this one, because RIM has also announced that themes can now be submitted to App World. BlackBerry Payment Service has been announced for mid-2010 availability, bringing in-app payments, subscription support, and a variety of billing options, which all sounds far more robust than the PayPal-only setup they've got going today. The Push Service made available to Alliance Program members earlier this year will be made available to all comers in "early 2010," making it easy to push bite-sized chunks of "time-sensitive alerts" to phones quickly and easily. BlackBerry Advertising Service has been announced for 1H 2010 availability, bringing a unified ad platform for developers with a variety of existing ad networks on board. If this means more free apps in App World, we're all for it. Expanding on the Flash partnership previously announced, RIM has teamed up with Adobe yet again to unveil tight integration with Creative Suite 5 with direct file exports for BlackBerry-optimized formats and the creation BlackBerry-specific web layouts. End users will also be able to pull files directly off their BlackBerrys into consumer offerings like Photoshop Elements. This particular news seems pretty fluffy since Adobe products are already capable of opening and saving media formats that the phones can use -- but as with many of the other announcements here, we're on board as long as it means better-looking apps. Sure, we wouldn't have complained if some crazy Storm2 with a QWERTY slide had unexpectedly shown up, but all things considered, BlackBerry software shops have to be salivating at the bounty here.
