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An Experiment In BlackBerry Development
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."
I enjoyed reading the analysis and the breakdown of converted trial users, but I must say, the application looks like shit. The typography is horrendous, the colors are all wrong, and the interface looks like something out of 80's or designed in MS Paint. The tagline on the app site is "Not pretty. Functional." What makes iPhone remarkable is that it demonstrated that you can have both pretty and functional. It's not an either/or proposition anymore. RIM/Nokia/Microsoft no longer have an excuse to say that in order for something to be functional it must conform to the lowest common denominator.
Contrary to popular opinion, the unwashed masses do appreciate well-designed, well-planned, and well-implemented products if it is within their price range. There is a reason why Pontiac Aztec failed in such a spectacular fashion.