Over the weekend, a completely fed up app developer poured out his frustrations over trying to make something for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The roadblocks ranged from an excessive demand for documentation (like getting a notarized letter confirm credentials), an unreliable tool installation process, and excessive costs. At some points I felt like he was kind of nit-picking, but added altogether, it’s easy to see how this developer would be fed up with RIM and the BlackBerry PlayBook. The crux of the post wasn’t necessarily that all of these steps were impossible to overcome, but rather there was little reason to deal with it all when developing for Android and iOS was by comparison so much easier. In response, RIM’s Tyler Lassard reassured the Waterloo developer, Jamie Murai, that all of his points were being seriously considered internally, and that RIM is continuing to listen to the developer community.
It should be noted that RIM is trying – the developer tools are still in beta, there are a variety of webcasts available walking folks through the development process, and they’ve recently waived the code-signing fee. They’re even giving away free PlayBook as an incentive for devs to get involved. We have already seen that the QNX-based operating system on the BlackBerry PlayBook is technically powerful, but it seems like the demons of RIM’s past with third-party developers has followed them from the old handheld OS. It’s good to see RIM meeting the challenge head-on, I just hope that they actually make the fixes necessary to stay appealing versus alternative platforms. Then again, if the BlackBerry PlayBook does end up launching with support for Android apps, they may not have to.
Have any of you guys tried your hand at cooking up an app for the BlackBerry PlayBook? Are Murai’s complaints justified, or is overeacting to the harsh realities of mobile app development?