Quality matters. You heard it from Alec Saunders in May at BlackBerry® 10 Jam in Orlando. Quite simply, better apps have a greater chance of success. We feel the best way to help you reach that success is to be fully committed to supporting our developer community’s efforts. Quality is the cornerstone of the developer experience improvements we’ve been working on, and RIM® is dedicated to working with developers to bring the best apps to our customers.

Two of the ways Alec outlined our commitment to quality in the developer community and app ecosystem are with regards to app reviews and the 10K commitment. Today we’re excited to share more information on these initiatives: Built for BlackBerry and the $10K Developer Commitment.

In the Built for BlackBerry program coming this fall, you will be able to submit BlackBerry® 10 WebWorks™ or BlackBerry® 10 Native apps for third-party review. This will be free (for now). BlackBerry 10 apps that pass will receive “Built for BlackBerry” quality status, which you can display on your site, in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront – anywhere you market your apps. This is a great opportunity for professional developers to powerfully differentiate their apps in BlackBerry App World.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog »

When digital media company PineLake Communications® wanted to learn more about BlackBerry® 10 development, it developed a simple application on the Android™ platform and ported it to the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device. The company quickly learned that porting the app was not only a simple and straightforward process, but also that the visibility of their application on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet was far superior to any other platform. After enjoying measurable early success with their Cubifice® app, the company is looking forward to the official launch of the game on the BlackBerry 10 platform.

PineLake’s Creative Director, Bill Larocque, Cubifice lead developer, Dave Wagler and Associate Account Director, Liana Buenaventura Brown talked about the ease of porting the application, why it is important to develop for the BlackBerry platform and the importance of sharing the app with other BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device developers.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog »

Have you ever wondered who is behind those awesome BlackBerry® devices, software and services you know and love? Well, wonder no more – here at the Inside BlackBerry Blog, we want to start introducing you to some of the truly awesome minds behind our products. We’ve managed to grab some time with Todd Wood, SVP Design at RIM to ask him a few questions about his work, inspiration and the future of design.

1. Can you take us through the typical design process of a BlackBerry device?

We refer to the design process as 3Ds – Definition, Development and Delivery.

Definition is about understanding what the customer’s needs and wants are, as well as the technical parameters, and what the business goals of the project are. We call this information-gathering, though it’s really about gaining insight.

In development, we start to gather and map ideas. We edit them and develop them to become concepts, whether they are sketches or models. It’s a creative, iterative process – editing and changing until you get to a point where you’ve answered the objectives.

Once you think you’re where you want to be, often there’s further testing. I like to remind the team that this whole process is actually “research in motion.” We test our final designs with the very people who inspired them: the customers, the business people, and the technology people. Then, we work on delivering and manufacturing – all the things that go along with launching a product.

2. During the design process, do you look at major trends in the smartphone industry outside of RIM?

Yes, we’re certainly aware of what’s going on. One of the big trends we’re seeing is this desire for larger displays, but usually you need something that fits in your hand or in your pocket. Screens can be enormous, but the consumer always makes a choice about what fits their lifestyle.

Another important trend is thinness. But what’s interesting is that consumers take a pragmatic and balanced approach to this. They know that with bigger screens and more capability, battery size is also important. There is such a thing as too thin.

The last big trend is choice in the market for BlackBerry devices. A lot of our customers really love and can’t live without their keyboards. In our BlackBerry® 7 OS portfolio, there is a choice of QWERTY, an all-touch or a slider-hybrid. Our approach is a portfolio of choice – we don’t see it as a one-size-fits-all market.

3. What research do you undertake before designing the latest BlackBerry smartphone?

We do many types of research when we’re in the design phase for a new device. This can be as complicated as huge consumer panels across multiple markets, or as simple as getting two people together in a room and showing them a bunch of models. It gets interesting when the two people forget you’re in the room and they start talking, keeping each other honest and having a good discussion. We learn a lot not just by what they say, but by what they do with the models. They start acting out – putting one of the models in their pocket, holding it up to their ear, imagining owning the device. That’s often the one they prefer.

4. What are other industries that you might draw inspiration from?

That’s a good question. It’s really about inspiration – we have a very diverse team so we get a lot of inspiration from many different sources. Personally, I enjoy following the furniture design industry. I often go to the Milan Furniture Fair in April. It’s a design week where manufacturers show their products in partnership with designers from around the world. The furniture industry is very connected to the fashion industry in Italy. So you get a sense of trend, what is contemporary, what the hot colour is, etc.

But at the same time, fashion can be fickle – we don’t chase fashion, but it is interesting how furniture resonates with fashion and moves at a similar tempo to the smartphone industry. They’re renewing products on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. That is meaningful and relevant to us.

A big trend that we’re seeing is that things are not really seasonal anymore, and designs are often very global – a lot of influences from around the world. It is this “one world” concept that’s quite interesting. People are realizing they are all connected; it’s full circle because of products and services like BlackBerry.

5. How important is design to today’s smartphone consumer?

For consumers, design is super important. In recent customer feedback, we see that the importance of design and appearance is right up there with the fundamentals of mobile Internet access. It’s then followed by the importance of the display and the keyboard decision.

What’s interesting about design is that it’s something people decide on really quickly – whether they like it or not, partly from the appearance and then by how it feels when they touch or hold it. Does it feel like it looks? Is there integrity there? For BlackBerry devices, we pay a lot of attention to build quality and finish– our goal is always to make them functional and beautiful. People recognize and value this a lot.

Bonus Question:
6. Where do you see the smartphone design industry in 5 years?

It’s difficult to be speculative, but from a design point of view – design isn’t just about appearance; the definition of design has become much more holistic, more universal. We often speak about design as an experience.

For us at RIM, we have been investing in design over the years, so we have a great multidisciplinary design team in the studio practicing Experience Design. It makes us a world-class organization. In the next five years, we will continue to grow the team and the capability. Others will try to emulate this model, but in the end I think, like most industries, it will become pretty clear that there are top tier brands. And our goal is to remain in that top tier.

Have a question you’d like to see us ask in a future interview with BlackBerry insiders and experts? Let us know in the comments.

We knew developers were excited about our latest BlackBerry® PlayBook™ offer for Android™ developers when we announced it two weeks ago. You asked that Native C/C++, HTML5, Adobe® AIR®, and Qt developers have a chance to participate and we answered by opening the offer to all developers.

Today was going to be the deadline for the offer – but due to the overwhelming interest in the offer, we’re extending it one more time. How much interest? There have been over 1,500 app submissions as of last Friday and over 6,600 new developers registered in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.  We have teams working around the clock to approve vendor registrations and app submissions.  Because of the high demand, approvals are taking longer than normal – we appreciate your patience.

To help speed up the approval process of your application, we strongly recommend the following:

• Before submitting your application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to remove all mention of the word “Android” from your application – both in the application description and the application itself.
• Please remove all links to Android Marketplace from within your application.
• When submitting your Android application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to select a minimum OS of 2.0.
• Please make sure your application is signed. For more information on code signing, please view the code signing documentation on the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps webpage.

If you’re not a registered BlackBerry App World vendor, you now have until 11:59 PM EST on February 15, 2012 to register at
http://appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal
.

All vendors (new and existing) now have until 11:59 PM EST on March 2, 2012 to submit your application to BlackBerry App World. Check out our offer FAQ and we’ll be updating the official terms & conditions later today.

(I’d like to introduce Trevor – the Product Manager for our BlackBerry® Payment Service. Trevor’s here today to talk about the launch of BlackBerry Payment Service 1.5! – AK)

This past January we introduced the BlackBerry Payment Service SDK 1.0, which provided new ways to monetize applications through the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. Since then, many developers have leveraged the SDK to start accepting in-application purchases, and today we are excited to announce a great extension to the SDK that will enable developers to start offering subscription-based services. Starting with BlackBerry Payment Service SDK 1.5, developers will now be able to offer auto-renewing subscriptions for applications and in-application digital goods.

The BlackBerry Payment Service SDK 1.5 builds on the existing API from 1.0, so it is designed to allow developers to quickly add subscriptions without having to learn a new API. The new SDK provides APIs to check for the status of a subscription and the ability to cancel subscriptions. BlackBerry Payment Service manages the subscription renewals automatically and sends out renewal reminders and receipts to users. Please note that applications with subscription services will require users to have the recently released BlackBerry App World 3.0 installed on their device.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

And, if you’re attending BlackBerry DEVCON Americas, be sure to check out the following session on Wednesday October 19th:

Tips and Tricks for Balancing Life and App Development from a Working Mother
Think application development is too time consuming? Come hear how a working mother with one-year-old twins used the time-saving features of the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ Platform.
Kathryn Lahrs with Self Employed

Register for BlackBerry DEVCON Americas today and don’t miss it!

To carve out a presence in the mobile app world, Kathryn Lahrs needs the mobile app development process to be simple and fun. As a part-time developer, Kathryn has harnessed the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ platform to create several successful applications, from the nostalgic game Mash to the family-friendly Santa Tracker. Her current challenge takes advantage of a huge opportunity: full integration with the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) 6.0 platform. Between her job and her one-and-a-half year old twin daughters, Kathryn works to find time to develop apps.

Kathryn tells us about using the BlackBerry WebWorks platform, working with Research In Motion® (RIM®) and what exciting BBM™ 6.0 apps are coming in the near future.

Let’s talk about the apps you’ve been developing for BBM 6.0. How are they integrated with native applications?

The first app is PowWow, a social gathering app. You’ll be able to connect to any of your contacts, invite them to events and track their RSVP status – and the event details go straight into the calendar on your BlackBerry smartphone. The basic version will be free, and in the paid version you’ll be able to check your friend’s calendar for their availability – you’ll even be able to check their current GPS location if you’re lost or waiting for them. One of the best features is that it is all running in the background on BBM – you don’t even need to have the app open. The other app will also be plugged into BBM, but based on study groups. Doing these apps has been almost addictive. It’s been a great deal of fun to build them from scratch.

Tell me about the response that the Santa Tracker application received.

The Santa Tracker app was a fun Christmastime app that received a lot of attention. It sold more than 3,000 copies at $1.99 per download. The response was wonderful and families really enjoyed being able to use an app with their kids. When RIM found out about the app, they helped give it an extra push.

Why has the BlackBerry WebWorks platform been so useful for you?

I’m comfortable with environments like HTML, JavaScript®, and Visual Studio, so BlackBerry WebWorks was really simple to get into. After a quick learning curve, it’s pretty easy to see how everything functions and how data is passed and what I need to look for in apps. It also gives you options when working with Java code, so you’re not limited. And I really like the way the web apps look and feel. I think BlackBerry WebWorks is going to take apps to the next level. I’m a mother of twins and developing part time and it still only took me three weeks to develop Mash.

How has your relationship with the RIM team helped your app development?

RIM has been really helpful in a couple of ways. RIM feels like a family environment where everybody truly wants you to do well. I started with the BlackBerry WebWorks environment in its infancy and connected right away with RIM over email. They introduced me to a broad network of people within the company and they were all really supportive. I just didn’t see that hands-on, help-me-in-any-way-possible atmosphere anywhere else. The forums are the same way – BlackBerry developers genuinely want to help each other. Any time I’ve come up against a problem, I put it out there to other developers and typically I receive a great response.

Be sure to check out Lahrs Apps for the latest and greatest apps from Kathryn!

I am very pleased to announce today that we are moving to the next stage in our launch plans for the Native SDK for BlackBerry® Tablet OS (‘Native SDK’) tools targeted at game developers. As of today, developers from around the world can apply to participate in our closed beta program to get access to these new and exciting tools.

The Native SDK provides you with the ability to create rich and compelling games for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet using C/C++, the Standard Template Library (STL) and Open GL ES 1.1/2.0. The Native SDK includes a number of POSIX compliant libraries, as well as support for accelerometer, device orientation, and a variety of other functions to make porting your existing games as easy as possible. When you check out games like Need for Speed: Undercover or the new Dead Space from EA, what you are seeing is the Native SDK in action, providing the framework for EA to build incredible gaming experiences on our platform. We are incredibly excited to see what the broader developer community can do when provided with access to these tools.

The Native SDK includes the industry leading QNX® Momentics® Tool Suite, which is an Eclipse-based integrated development environment. QNX Momentics provides unparalleled memory profiling, application debugging, and memory usage statistics, giving you the tools you need to debug sophisticated programs, including hardware accelerated OpenGL applications. QNX Momentics is designed to provide you with a safe, secure, and powerful environment to quickly and efficiently build applications for the BlackBerry Tablet OS.

During the beta we will be providing periodic updates to QNX Momentics to include additional APIs to further enhance your games on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet platform.

To apply to participate in the closed beta, please fill out the form, and we will contact you with more information. Space is limited in this preview and space will be granted on a first come first served basis. We will work to expand the program in the coming weeks for anyone interested in C/C++ development for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet platform.

The last few weeks have been very busy for the BlackBerry® platform teams! We’ve launched important updates to our BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK (v2.1) for both the BlackBerry Tablet® OS and smartphone OS, as well as the BlackBerry® Tablet OS SDK for Adobe® AIR® (in addition to working with Adobe® to include optimized support for the BlackBerry Tablet OS in Adobe® Flash® Builder 4.5!). Also, we’ve released BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) Social Platform SDK 1.0 for BlackBerry® Java® SDK along with a beta version of the platform for BlackBerry WebWorks.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

I’m excited to let you know about the BBM Apps Hackathon Contest (“Contest”) that will give developers the opportunity to participate in an exclusive two-day BBM Apps Hackathon Event (“Event”) in New York City where they will receive help to build an app using the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) Social Platform.

The Event – taking place on August 11-12, 2011 – will give direct access to people from Research In Motion® (RIM®), including members of the BBM development and product teams who can help attendees understand how to integrate the BBM social platform into their application. Attendees will be able to learn different techniques to integrate viral/social aspects into their application and the experts will be on hand to answer their questions.

Enter the Contest for your chance to win* a trip to New York City, including flight, hotel accommodations, $500US and exclusive attendance at the Event. What could be better than that?

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

Mark your calendar to attend the BlackBerry® 7 webinar on Wednesday June 29th 2011. You will learn more about how to get your applications ready for the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones (including the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 smartphone), what’s new in the BlackBerry 7 release and how to add these features into your application.

Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Time: 2:00 pm ET
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Paul Bernhardt, Application Development Consultant, Research In Motion® (RIM®)

The webcast will cover:

• How to quickly port your current BlackBerry® platform application to BlackBerry 7 and key considerations when designing your app for the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones
• BlackBerry 7 API Overview: Includes new hardware enabled features on BlackBerry 7 devices such as Magnetomer, Near Field Communications, Augmented Reality, OpenGL ES 2.0 as well as APIs that enhance the Super Apps experience
• Q&A with RIM application development expert

Don’t miss out on this event! You must be registered in order to attend, so register today!

UPDATE: We have added more convenient times to our BlackBerry 7 webinar schedule for developers who are based out of Europe or Asia. The details and registration links are below, so sign up today! You must be registered to attend these events:

EMEA
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011
Time: 2:00 pm BST
Duration: 1 hour
Registration: Sign up here for this webcast
Presenter: Paul Bernhardt, Application Development Consultant, Research In Motion (RIM)

AP
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Time: 12:00 pm HKT
Duration: 1 hour
Registration: Sign up here for this webcast
Presenter: Paul Bernhardt, Application Development Consultant, Research In Motion (RIM)