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An Experiment In BlackBerry Development

Posted by kdawson on from the berry-casting dept.

ballwall writes "We've all read the stories about how lucrative selling apps on the iPhone can be (or not), but what about other platforms? BlackBerry accounts for twice as many handsets shipped as Apple, according to Gartner, so I decided to find out. I wrote about my experiences developing my first BlackBerry application including sales, platform issues, and a bunch of other things I thought new mobile developers might want to know about."

6 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Blackberry's problem by areusche · · Score: 5, Insightful

    RIM needs to open the platform up. Nothing more nothing less.

    1. Re:Blackberry's problem by Corporate+T00l · · Score: 3, Insightful
      From the article, it seems like the platform already is pretty open:
      • No talk about complexities having to buy an SDK
      • No issues trying to become an "approved" developer
      • No need for an approval committee to decide if your app is worthy for the device

      The main complexities seem to have to do with the sheer diversity related to the multi-carrier and multi-hardware aspects of the BB platform (e.g. the author mentions 10 different ways of getting a network connection and shortcomings of the built-in SDK UI widgets).

  2. Thank you by Naurgrim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Interesting read, ballwall, and I truly wish you luck with your efforts.

    I'm not much of a programmer, but as a SysAdmin (*nix by preference, win* by necessity) I was struck by some parallels I've observed. I find blackberries to be painful. Making them work as a mobile email device tied to Exchange requires a shiat-ton of ugly third party software.

    If a client bothers to ask, (and they don't), I tell them iPhone first, WinMobile second, blackberry distant third.

    BES is, IMHO, a steaming pile - java, dot.net, 32-bit only. Feh. Recent iPhones handle active sync nicely and don't bitch about self-signed certs. WinMobile is a bit harder, but install your certs and you're done. blackberries (I refuse to capitalize) give me pain.

    My clients pay $$ for BES CALs, the devices get stupid and need to be factory reset often and re-activated, costing my client more $$ for my time.

    A colleague says "blackberries are great, they help me spot THOSE people". I tend to agree. I honestly cannot see the attraction when there are better solutions to talk to an Exchange server - previously mentioned iPhones, WinMobile or a laptop with RPC over HTTP(S) all work more simply and more reliably, and I tell my clients so. Nevertheless, I still hear "but I've got to have a blackberry"!

    --
    .......You Are,
    ...What You Do,
    When It Counts.
    1. Re:Thank you by InlawBiker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, as we are all aware, nobody cares how hard the admin's job is. The Enterprise is BB's target market and they're dug in deep. Just the ability to sync with Exchange calendars, contacts and email is 99% of why Blackberry exists - because BES is great if you're a user. If you're an admin, your job is to support the business and the business wants Exchange sync. Sorry BES admins.

      Blackberry has continued to innovate, their phones are really very easy to use. But the Business will gladly quit paying for BES server and the people to run it the instant something better comes along.

  3. The thing about Blackberry by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The thing about Blackberry that the business users love most about it is that it works and does exactly what they want it to do. They have their contacts, their email, their to-do list, their notes and a select few other things. They don't need much else. It's perfect the way it is for most users. Adding new software to it is not an entertaining idea for most users.

    At the most, they want some mapping... google maps works quite nicely for me, but essentially, Blackberry already does what it needs to do and while some will, most users don't want anything more.

  4. Re:You forgot the most important thing... by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why, is a SSH client particularly easy to write?

    Not so much that its easy to write one, but that several free ones already exist for the platform.

    I demand a free SSH client now, who do I speak to?

    Speak to Apple.

    Snap to it, it's my right to have a free SSH client on platform ${FOOBAR}

    In this case ${FOOBAR} is BSD. Its not a new platform, and it already has numerous free and open sourced options for ssh clients.

    Only Apple could give you a device with BSD Unix on it, and then block and make you pay extra money to run things like ssh, telnet, ftp, bash, perl, etc...