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Developers Defecting From BlackBerry

Posted by Soulskill on from the developers-in-motion dept.

jfruhlinger writes "Mobile app developers who build for multiple platforms need to figure out how to conserve their resources somehow, and many are choosing to do so by not bothering to build apps for BlackBerry phones. It's a combination of declining market share and the general difficulty of building apps for the BlackBerry platform, one developer told Bloomberg: 'RIM brought in a touchscreen and mixed it with a thumbwheel, a keyboard and shortcut keys, it made it really difficult and expensive to develop across devices.'"

5 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Wait a second, by MyFirstNameIsPaul · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You mean to tell me that developers have been making apps for BlackBerry all this time? I coulda' swore that every time I saw an app that looked really cool it was only available for Android or iPhone. I can't even get that Angry Ducklings app that everyone is singing about.

    --

    I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.

    1. Re:Wait a second, by PCM2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I haven't had a BlackBerry for a while now, but if I remember right, I may have kept an SSH client on there, and I think once I downloaded an Infocom player, just for fun. But overall, I just never considered downloading apps to be part of the BlackBerry experience. Maybe that's why I find the "DOODZ, WHERE DA APPS AT??" attitude of a lot of iPhone/Android users a little baffling. To me, BlackBerry's software was well-designed and reliable, and it allowed me to do pretty much everything I expect a communications device to do, so I couldn't really picture what else I'd need to downlaod. But then again, I guess to me, a mobile phone is something that spends most of its time in your pocket. That doesn't seem to be how a lot of phone users see it.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
  2. Re:Blackberry is the corporate standard by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd rather blame it on the perceived "air" around them. Blackberries have the "air" of being business-y and important, making the user some kind of nobility, while androids and iPhones have that stink of the commoner around them who uses it for petty games and enjoyment rather than important business.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Yes it matters by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Considering that with the Playbook they added the ability to support apps written for Android

    No, they said they PLAN to add that support. When it will be delivered? Who can say.

    they could essentially decide to do the same for their phones.

    For existing phones? The ones with no Android specific buttons? The ones that were never built intending to run Android?

    No.

    The reason all this matters is that there is no coherent story about BB development anywhere (since the tablets use Air and the phones do not), and what development was going on was with a nightmare API (I looked over it once to evaluate doing a port to BB and ran away).

    Blackberry has the same problem Nokia did, BB is just much more entrenched and harder to shake loose. But they haven't done anything to firm up the grip they had, and when it goes it will go fast.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  4. Re:Ask Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    stick with blackberry, it's not going anywhere, yes they are loosing market "share" but only because the market is growing, BB total sales have continues to increase, but the smart-phone market has increased at a faster pace, hence the "loss" is no loss at all. It's just this crazy perception where only percentages count, not reality.