The dust had settled from yesterday’s announcements at the BlackBerry Developer Conference, and everyone was ready to hit the books in the sessions today. Those many of us without the foggiest clue of what to do with a line of code were in a bit of a pickle, but some breathing room after a hectic day 2 would actually be alright. In fact, it turned out to be a great time to get some full-bodied opinions about the show from those it was built for, rather than, say, the ones who had built it.
In the morning I got to talk with the lads from DevelopIQ, finalists in the BlackBerry Developer Challenge for their upcoming FlipChart project, and developers of Will.i.am’s Dipdive BlackBerry application. We touched on the difference between the Application Center and the Storefront – namely how carriers will handle applications versus RIM. Keep an ear out for The Signal to check out our interview with James Shannon.
After that, I sauntered over to the Mobile Pavillion to touch base with the AT&T boys about their BlackBerry Bold launch party in San Francisco last night (turns out it was super-exclusive, and from what I heard, I don’t blame them for keeping press out). Meandering through the booths, I managed to find me some good face time with the BlackBerry Storm. Certainly not the first hands-on pictures out there, and far from the last, but hey, it’s the first time the 9500 has been shown against the BlackBerry Bold. Afterwards I regretted getting some shots from the bottom and underneath – alas.
Then it was time to ham it up with some old buddies I had met at last year’s WES – Matthias Hager and Guido Wilken from ISEC7, creators of B*Nator. As you can see, these guys won the Enterprise Innovation Award for the BlackBerry Developer Challenge, proving exactly what they had told me at WES: young developers can bring new ideas to the table. It was good to pick their brain about how consumer-centric announcements like the Application Center might (or probably won’t) affect enterprise software. Again, you’ll hear our chat on The Signal later this week.
Let me tell you, it was hard to leave that poolside to go talk with Viigo. After managing to do so, it was actually great to meet up with the guys I had supported from the very beginning, and now seeing them reach BlackBerrys far and wide. Obviously in my new digs here at IntoMobile, we talked a lot about what they could be doing for other platforms, but there’s still a BlackBerry version that needs to be done up. Keep an eye out for that one soon. The Windows Mobile version is still around, and happily supporting wireless podcast downloads… Hmmm… Lots of other stuff in the pipes for this outstanding content aggregator, so stick around for their latest announcements.