The Blackberry Devcon Experience
2 Apr 2012
Back in February we traveled to the most amazing city in Amsterdam to experience our first Blackberry devcon, having developed for both Android and ios platforms we wanted to get under the skin of 70 million Blackberry users, yes that was 70 million users, you had not read that part wrong. So if you have an audience of 70 million people why are so many agencies and developers not considering development for this platform! We were very positive we would find an answer to this at devcon.
What is great about a developers conference is you get to speak directly with the people involved with not only making the decisions but also implementing them, two people we were very interested to meet were Adam Stanley ( application developer consultant for Rim) and Tim Neil (Application Platform & Tools Product Management at Research In Motion). Sitting in the big conference arena you get a picture of just how passionate blackberry users are, and I say why not. There are a quite a few companies missing out on opportunities and only targeting apps for one app store.
One of the key things that was evident to us, is that Blackberry is a big market, full of great users and products that are beginning to be as good as the iPhone and better than Android. Their philosophy is to let developers get on with the business of developing , this was evident in blackberry’s development tools, not only do they support native building in Java and C++ they have been very clever to adopt HTML5 with some great hooks into the features of blackberry handset. This was a good move for developers and customers, it means you can support the old and new mobile phones in the blackberry range without issues and be comfortable in the knowledge you will have the skill set available to do this.
At media-i every programmer has to of used the handset and lived with it before writing an app, why I hear you say? because we want to get the best user experience from the phone and the best way for our developers to do this is actually have a phone for a month and get to know it.
Users car about the experience not the technology
There are 75 million Active BlackBerry subscribers , That number is massive and one that often gets missed by companies who look at getting apps developed. One thing we always say to our customers,
A BlackBerry is not an iPhone is not an Android… very important to create for each platform using its strengths and keeping their weaknesses in mind. Rim were pushing open standards with webworks and HTML and they had a pretty convincing case, BlackBerry users have certain tools they like to use and we should look at incorporating these features, keep it simple dont try to add the kitchen sink, create a great user experience no matter how small your app is. Another important fact taken from the conference is as follows
BlackBerry app world has more paid downloads than the android market
An exciting prospect for any business, Entrepreneur to know and one that had us all looking hard at each other and saying we want to be part of that success. Devcon in Amsterdam was a great experience , great people , great food and coffee and some fantastic speakers. Adam Stanley was one of the best speakers at the show, giving a rundown on Rims technology and some of the areas developers should focus on.
As businesses be bold and be brave, don’t just think iPhone or android there are 75 million Blackberry users out there waiting for you app. Devcon confirmed and dispelled the myth that blackberry users don’t use apps, or it is not a good enough platform, in-fact there are some great developments now and moving forward in the future for any business looking at getting an app for their business. We enjoyed the 2 days, met some fantastic people and managed to get a tour of the city, we will certainly be back, Until next time
The little app company
