Ask HN: Is anyone doing Blackberry app development? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing Blackberry app development?

#11

Post by rms » Mon, Jan 19, 2009, 5:30 AM UTC

paulgb wrote: post #6

I haven't myself, but I've worked at a company that did. Here's what I picked up: BlackBerry users tend to use their devices a lot and are not afraid to download things. It's not going to be nearly the same market as the iPhone reaches, so iFart and the like would, IMHO, fail miserably on the BlackBerry. I bet there is money to be made in apps targeting certain verticals where BlackBerries are common. Law, real estat…

My understanding of the ifart/novelty apps is that people with disposable income bought them to entertain their kids randomly for 3 minutes. Why will that be so much less common on the Blackberry? Do people not want to pervert their business device with things so frivolous?

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing Blackberry app development?

#12

Post by shimi » Mon, Jan 19, 2009, 5:53 AM UTC

I have to disagree about the Java part.

After developing for WM, j2ME, BB and Android I found iPhone is a mystery. Apple knew what they were doing making people downloading those applications. You've have got fart apps for all platforms and no one could turn them to a profit until iFart.

BB is a different market, I'm sure that if you'll investigate you'll be able to come up with an idea.

BB can be a potential good market but

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing Blackberry app development?

#13

Post by fpotter » Mon, Jan 19, 2009, 7:05 AM UTC

Yep, I've been working on a downloadable app store for BlackBerry devices for a while called BerryStore (http://berrystore.com) and it's been getting decent uptake from BlackBerry users. I started way back in August, long before RIM had announced any of their plans.

There is a lot of opportunity for RIM here, but there are also a lot of things they would have to get right. For example, I've heard rumors they might only support newer phones or OS versions. That would be a mistake - Curves running really old versions of the OS are still being sold today. Another rumor I heard was that they might only work with developers who are part of their Alliance Program which costs $2,000 to join. Then, there is the hurdle of getting the app store onto devices in a way that makes carriers comfortable. Presumably some sort of revenue share has to be negotiated with each carrier. RIM certainly doesn't have an easy road ahead of them.

Also, if you read RIM's October press release announcing the Storefront, they claimed they would be letting developers submit apps starting this past December. December came and went and I didn't see anything. That means they're either behind in schedule, or worse, they're only working with Alliance partners and that's why we didn't see anything.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing Blackberry app development?

#14

Post by vetinari » Mon, Jan 19, 2009, 12:24 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #3

Yes, kind of. I have a neat little app on the Android Market ( http://phonalyzr.com ), which I am going to port to the Blackberry in time for their store launch. The reason I'm targeting Android and BB is because of the iPhone's ridiculously restrictive SDK - on these devices the OS notifies the user that my app will be reading their call log/contact list and the user can choose to proceed or not, whereas on the iPho…

Great app, I installed it few weeks ago.

But I have a question - do you have some bug tracker, where your users can put bugs and suggestions? I would like to suggest to split the minutes in usage summary by the direction, incoming and outcoming calls separately (in addition to weekdays/weekends as it is now).

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing Blackberry app development?

#15

Post by fatdog789 » Mon, Jan 19, 2009, 5:40 PM UTC

rms wrote: post #11

paulgb wrote: post #6

I haven't myself, but I've worked at a company that did. Here's what I picked up: BlackBerry users tend to use their devices a lot and are not afraid to download things. It's not going to be nearly the same market as the iPhone reaches, so iFart and the like would, IMHO, fail miserably on the BlackBerry. I bet there is money to be made in apps targeting certain verticals where BlackBerries are common. Law, real estat…

My understanding of the ifart/novelty apps is that people with disposable income bought them to entertain their kids randomly for 3 minutes. Why will that be so much less common on the Blackberry? Do people not want to pervert their business device with things so frivolous?

On a business device, usually paid for by the company?

Many companies don't allow their Crackberries to be used for personal crap; iFart and other novelty apps definitely fall into that category.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing Blackberry app development?

#16

Post by farmerwu » Tue, Jan 20, 2009, 11:59 PM UTC

Looks like RIM has begun accepting applications to their store. Has anyone gone through the application process yet? I'm glad they got it out, and its not the much past their original December launch date.