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RIM Doesn't Want 200 Fart Apps
andylim writes "Just when you thought it was safe to dev a fart app for a BlackBerry, RIM's VP of platform product management, Alan Panezic, is making it clear that that's not want RIM is looking for. 'We don't need 200 fart apps in App World. Those are apps you'll use three or four times then never open again. You're not looking at ads, clicking on ads or buying premium upgrades, and the app isn't adding any value to your device.' Turns out RIM wants 'SuperApps', ones that keep you coming back for more because they add something to your life — be it ongoing entertainment value or doing something for you. Most importantly for developers, these are the apps that will garner the most revenue; whether it comes from premium upgrades, in-app advertising, or additional-cost content."
Do they actually prefer it, or do they prefer it because they have this massive investment in equipment, software, licensing and people skills to support BlackBerry?
I sometimes wonder if it's not that they want or even use all the stuff BlackBerry offers, but they bought into it big and it would be painful to have to support something else.
AFAICT, abandoning BlackBerry means ditching BES and all the bullshoot associated with BES installs, and using ActiveSync instead (since it's a 99.99% certainty we're talking MS Exchange here).
Perhaps some portion of corporate installs actually need/want the BES infrastructure, but in my experience most of the places I've worked (smaller installs, 25-100 handhelds) don't use them and are constantly hammered for requests to support ActiveSync devices.