If you've ventured into the CrackBerry BlackBerry PlayBook forums lately, you've no doubt seen some threads discussing the app situation on the BlackBerry PlayBook. I say "app situation" in an effort to avoid taking a side one way or another when it comes to what, exactly that situation is. PlayBook owners have noticibly been divided on the matter. Some say the app selection is fine while others, disagree very passionately shall we say.
In any event, the PlayBook app selection has grown over time and again some would say for the better while others would it's for the worse. No matter how you feel about the situation, there is a new thread in the forums from biggulpseh that seeks to offer a good explanation of what the situation is at the heart of the matter and when it all will be addressed.
The secret sauce as they say will be Cascades. Something that RIM has yet to fully reveal to developers but is most certainly on the way and really is the key to alot of things people are (have been?) waiting for on the BlackBerry PlayBook. If you're frustrated about the situation on the PlayBook then read through the post, it's great insight as to what is just around the corner for the BlackBerry PlayBook -- remember, BlackBerry World happens in May and RIM has a lot of exciting things planned for BlackBerry World and more importantly, the BlackBerry 10 Jam.
The App Conundrum: If you're fed up with the app situation on PlayBook read here
Reader comments
The App Conundrum: Are you fed up with the app situation on PlayBook? Read this
I for one absolutely don't understand the whole "lack of apps" complaint. There are more apps than I can possibly use.
Maybe I lack App Ambition, but the Playbook has something for everything I want to do: email, calendar, general web browsing, Evernote, a Google Reader app, Kobo, Kindle, Twitter, Facebook, Docs To Go, watching movies, keeping up with sports scores, listening to music, and the occasional light game. I can manage my blog business on the go, keep up with friends, and entertain myself as I like.
I can't think of anything I'd want to do that I can't do on the Playbook.
I also have an Android tablet and basically have the same apps on that that I do on the Playbook. The difference is that the Playbook apps run better.
@Yemson,
I agree with you. There's nothing constructive about these posts. Reading MOST of these there's no reason to see any positive light here..
Geez, am I the only one really enjoying my play book and can't wait for it to get better. Cascade looks great. I'm willing to wait cause I do see progress happening and I understand the operating system is new and it'll take time. And yes RIM's not perfect; it has made mistakes and lost time, but I do believe it trying to correct this, fight its way back and they hasn't given up.
I just don't understand the "Jack Kennedy" types that are so negative and dissatisfied with RIM why they even bother spending their times posting. What's the point. If you're that unhappy with the product.. move on.. don't soil the waters here with the hate. Be constructive .. yes.. destructive .. no thanks .. don't really care for it.
BTW how is RIM any different than Apple when it started out at $3.5 a share when Microsoft was crushing them. If they can do it so can RIM.
Whiners, complaintners, haters and trolls. This site is full of them. Crackberry is a site where readers are bound to read through endless complaints posts, stating how RIM is so evil, how RIM wronged them in some malevolent and greedy way. How these good people are not sheep that blindly follow RIM, how they are not RIM fanboys, and that they really are claiming for something just and pure. That they are defending our rights and showing us the best way.
Sad that this site is really a playground for people like this.
I saw the cascade demos on the pb...and they are not that impressive. I wasn't wow'ed by it.
Again, this optimistic thinking/excuses are getting old.
First people thought os 2.0 would pave a new path for Rim. -- It didn't.
Then people think BB10 will save Rim. -- It won't.
And now people are saying cascades will solve the great app dilemma. -- Dream on.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but the poster said it would be EASIER to develop apps with the native UI framework released...
As far as I know, difficulty is not a consideration for the developers of many major apps...I doubt Skype turn away from Playbook because it's difficult if they thought it would be profitable...
Mmm kool aid
Yes, playbook is not a professional tablet at all, it's a great gaming tablet with nice speakers for music.
You are 100% incorrect. The PlayBook has all of the features to function as a business device. I now leave my laptop in the office and remote to it with Citrix. Wonderful freedom! Don't need Netflix or Skype to do business. I have a phone, and am not watching movies on business time. Hell, the wireless data limits do not allow streaming even if I did want to waste time. Apps continue to come, with the QPdf app perfect for dealing with pdf files, one very helpful solution. Getting better every week.
By the way I also recently got an android tablet for other reasons and to just understand the options available. Android may look flashy, but many (a very high percentage) of the apps do not work well on tablets, they are just for the slab phones. Also it freezes and you have no control of what remains running, except to "kill" an app which gives a warning that it may cause unstable behavior. Not very impressed so far.
There is clearly room in the market for a business-focused tablet like PlayBook.
Once RIM finishes the work it should be been doing well before the release of the Playbook, I think the platform will have more potential then the crappy fragmented Android experience.
A fresh, well priced hardware revision matched with a significant software update, and all the core apps currently missing would cause a splash.
What are the chances of that though? With a retina, LTE iPad on the market RIM had better be taking a long hard look at what its going to release.
I love how everyone is so freakin negative. All this beetching and complaining is driving people like me from this site.
Yes there are problems, but check out android central ... They have probs too. Same with windows devices. But those sites don't seem to have the constant complaining and crying that this site has. Dunno why.
Oh well I'm outta here .... Maybe for good this time.
Welcome to the herd following the negative media. I have always been surprised on how quickly and easily RIM will be trashed for making sure something works. They learned that releasing a solid thing is better then a half arsed thing. Unfortunately, it is a Canadian company and most people love to bash them repeatedly. They could release the best phone specs and os on the market. Media would still find a negative and run with it for 2 weeks while praising some other company with crap for it's innovation.
I have waited this long, I can wait a bit longer. Every company says something is coming right around the corner, RIM just does it to much which seems like they never follow through in a reasonable time.
Agreed. But I am not talking about media. I am talking about the so called "fans" on this site. The people who claim to actually like BB products .... its like they feel "entitled" or something.
If I was in the market for a new phone and came across this site, I'd run from BB as fast as humanly possible. Its insane all the crying the forum members do.
Like I said, I've been to Android Central and WP Central and noted that although there are some serious issues with devices (GPS not working on Transformer Prime ? Nokia Luminia 900 connection problems ? ) the community seems more positive and wanting to work towards making the product better.
On this site all we see are people moaning and complaining over and over and over about the same issues. A simple forum thread to ask for help with charging the battery turns into an all out war and beetch fest about apps and RIM taking too long to bring products to market.
If CrackBery.com is to be the #1 fan site for BlackBerry then lets start acting like the #1 fan site.
Since when did being a fan of blackberry mean that one can not utter a word of complaint?
Has it ever occurred to you that there are more complaints on this site because more users are dissatisfied with it?
I'm sure in any forum/product community sites etc, there are less complaints when the product is good, and there are more complaints when the users are more dissatisfied with the product.
I think it would be quite irrational to assume that BB users are in general whinning unreasonable mad men who loves complaining...even if that's true, I'm sure something turn BB users in complaining babies...and guess what we have in common - using BB.
Quite possible that there are more complaints because more users are dissatisfied. Very possible.
But complaining is one thing, even constructive criticism would be helpful and appreciated.
It's the gross amounts of saying "This is useless" and "why would anyone buy this crap" etc etc that seems to be going on. Waaaay too many members of this forum are making the site pessimistic and a downer for some of the others.
Guess I'm just saying I'm finally sick of the attitudes etc.
Buh bye CDM76, say hello to all the ex shareholders after you close the door.
Agreed with all, RIM's "the sun will come out tomorrow" song and dance act has worn thin as a cliche'd show tune. They're years away and everyone knows it.
The playbook is a gamer device. You simply cannot conduct real business or produce real music with it.
A paperweight browser.
"You simply cannot conduct real business ..."
Should this not read "I simply cannot conduct real business..."
Don't tell me what *I* can and can not do with it ... I use my PB daily for work. Maybe YOU can't in your situation, but many people do use their PB for work on a daily basis. Don't assume everyone has your needs / expectations / uses of a device. There are some great apps that make this tablet killer for productivity and time management. These make it useful to me.
What I need/want may not be the same as what you need/want, but the PlayBook works AWESOME for my needs.
This is exactly the type of negativity I am talking about.
For the Playbook, the apps are a must. The tablets are great for entertainment. The Playbook just fails to ever bridge the gap with the apps that are popular on the other platforms. On the phone side, not as big a deal. I just recently switched to iPhone (work provided), managing e-mail is horrible. The entire basic phone functionality sucks. Siri is a joke. Voice recognition and autocorrect screw something up in just about every sentence. It does make a great mini tablet though. My 4 year old loves playing rat on a snowboard and the rest of the BS.
If Cascade allow RIM to transform PBOS and all the native apps into a real beast (that offers truly mind blowing, experiences), and at the same time make it very easy for developers to create their apps/game, then people should actually take note.
For the app business, RIM have to have all the native apps perfectly done so the developer can believe that PB/BB 10 can really be impressive/attractive, and they should also learn something from the war of game consoles - acquire/invest on a couple of game studios that actually have track records of making unique, popular games, then make them produce PB/BB10 versions... Although they mustn't make those games exclusive (like in the console wars), rather, at most, just have exclusive features for the versions in different platforms - only in this way can RIM have a promising head start.
How exactly can RIM have a head start when they are many years behind already when it comes to apps and if RIM is in a battle for 3rd place with Windows Phone they will be 2+ years behind it when BB 10 launches. Windows Phone will be on its third major revision when BB 10 launches in ALPHA to consumers. You know it's going to happen. OS 5 and 6 - alpha and beta - until OS 7/7.1 finally catches up to what OS 5 SHOULD have been at launch. PB OS, still a half assed development platform a year later. Seriously, RIM acquires these companies like TAT but does not bring them into the fold and get their asses in gear to PRODUCE for the platform. TAT has been allowed to make demo after demo after demo after demo while producing only a calculator and scrapbook app for the platform.
Thor has one chance and only one chance to get BB 10 right or RIM is finished as a hardware maker. I hope he gets it and really is focused on making this the first successful launch RIM has had since the original Pearl.
Look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twZuuGgBuPI
this is the demo that was shown, is there anything that can still wow us? Last year, maybe, but this year, these effects are commonplace on other oses. What would anyone possibly lose if he switched to another os now when we know RIM's upcoming concepts are what we can currently already buy?
Why would developers invest their time in Playbook when the user base is so little? Is the original post suggesting that developers would magically switch to Playbook because it's easy to do fancy effects?
RIM needs to actively do something, bribe the developers, subsidize them, reward them, buy them, or whatever to bring some functions to the Playbook. You can make things easy for developers and give them whatever utilities and hardware they need but that does not mean a thing when they are not obligated or have no incentives to develop anything on the PB.
We want to see results, not more and more posts/articles asking us to sympathize RIM for their unreasonably extreme incompetence.
I have to agree with you on this one Jack. MS is paying out $60k to $600k to "Top 25" Developers to get them to make their apps for Windows Phone. If RIM were to shell out the full $600k PER APP for the Top 25 App in the world today it would be investing a grand total of just 15 million dollars. With 1.5 Billion in the bank a 15 million dollar investment isn't all that much (especially given that acquiring the Top 25 Apps would profit them much more then their recent $100 million advertising campaign did), Lets go RIM, make a move, make it happen!!!
--Joz
Long Live The RIMpire!!!
Hmmmm... when i said "head start" i didn't means it's going to "win", but where it's going to start without much risk of dying right at the spot.
Sure there have been crazy ideas out there besides the "teases" we've got from RIM in these like 2 years, but by far, boring 2D based/static UI elements are still what we see in any other platform (now), so thats why BB10 have to break that ground so people can see something different.
I mean, if the highly dynamic, interactive stuffs like the media player, presenter/file-sharer, and the contact manager can be nicely polished and become the basic of UI structure, then only iDixts will say that it's "old".
However that alone isn't enough - at all, as I said in another post before, RIM must really should also make it easy for users to accomplish many basic stuffs and let them do those things happily.
Also, one of the other things for BB10 to begin is screen size... If its going to be just as large as iphone, then its not going anywhere - the size of the screen at least MUST be as large as Galaxy SII, people are jumping from iPhones to Samsung quickly and the one reason I keep hearing is "Screen Size", so yes, large screen is becoming a new normal.
I've had a playbook since day one and compared to now, I'm so over the top happy with the number of apps available. Would I like a few more 'top names', sure. But I also knew that those 'tops apps' were not, and may not ever be there when I purchased the PlayBook.
Just saying
So if I can say anything to PlayBook owners and BlackBerry fans, it's please just have patience........haaahhaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaa
Seriously this is so extremely pathetic that its borderline funny. There have been outright lies and excuses but this New Excuse for the lack of apps and telling us to WAIT is worse than the apple fanboi articles that pops up in BGR.
Please, do me a favor and find me a major mobile ecosystem without a native UI framework, other than the PlayBook. Not going to happen. People simply don't understand that this is a huge deal for developers. The ecosystem simply cannot expand and have great apps with only AIR and WebWorks.
People are asking why the native UI framework isn't there?
Is it our fault that RIM still has yet to release it a year after people has bought their playbooks?
Is it our fault that RIM started selling the Playbook so much earlier than they know that when apps consumers interested would even be possible/likely to develop?
You are making it sound like it is not RIM's fault that they are at the position they are at and saying we are obligated to wait and fund RIM's future products.
Why should we be patient? A year could be the life of an actual tablet for consumers...I certainly don't find it amusing or at all reasonable at this point. RIM wasn't in a good position when they released the Playbook and now it seems like they deserve it.
Sorry, I didn't intend to shoot the messenger, but people who are fed up with the "situation" will not feel any better just because you explained it to us.
What a lot of us trying to say is "so what? It's still RIM's fault." Saying RIM is extremely slow and delay things unreasonably to the extent that consumers brought products that cannot be fully utilized in the lifetime of the products does not make us sympathize RIM and only shows that RIM brought this to themselves.
I am tired of hearing " its coming". I have had to hear this for almost a year now with the PB.
Put up or shut up RIM.
CB, stop defending the undefendable.
Tim
I understand everyone's frustrations and I too have felt dumb for telling friends that the new BlackBerry is coming soon only to be disappointed. However, lets all wait and see for one last time. I have a feeling that RIM knows that they have to put on a show a BlackBerry World and they will be more open about what's coming out with BB10. So hold tight for 3 weeks then flame away once plans are revealed.
RIM tells us to wait again ! Everything will be there in the future !
Well ...to quote Longfellow :
"Trust no future however pleasant ! Let the dead past bury its dead ! Act , - act in the living present! Heart within and God overhead. "
Yeah, that's pretty much what I got from the article. I also don't appreciate being referred to as a "novice" fan, when I've had 3 different BB models for the past 6 years, along with the 16gb Playbook.
LOL... I'm a 21 year old university student and now I somehow am RIM. If anything RIM has done their best to downplay Cascades so that devs won't be turned away from the platform.
I will not learn Cascades until i know, that BB10 will finaly succeed. I am using AIR. So if BB10 fails i can easily focus on IOS/Android development. The new AIR 3.2 is extremly fast and a good developer can make TAT-style apps with all the cool 3D stuff you want. But unfortunally RIM sticks with AIR 3.1 und the developer are waiting wishfully since months for an announcement that RIM will use AIR 3.2 in the future. But we hear nothing. NOTHING. In the meantime we see more and more great AIR 3.2 Apps running on IOS and Android. RIM falls behind again.
With the great performance-improvements of AIR 3.2 - why should i use Cascades? It runs only on BB10. An AIR 3.2 app runs everywhere (except Playbook/BB10).
Blaize is normally very sensible. But this article is just sad. The forum post is even sadder with all those thanks and likes for a post basically spouting random PR.
Has anyone seen Cascades? Does anyone know what it will be like? The only people with access to Cascades would be RIM, who took a year to come up with a native messaging app that performs worse than BBOS, who still can't port their native BBOS apps over, and who can't get the same functionality on PBOS that they can on BBOS.
Skype won't come to PB until Cascades, right. If Skype was targeting someone, would they target the 75 million BBOS users, or the 1 million PB users? Skype isn't here because RIM can't negotiate with the big boys, its nothing to do with Cascades or a lack of it. If Cascades is so far ahead of every other OS out there, then clearly its not whats holding app developers back from the platform, seeing as how they don't have the same tools on other platforms.
I love my BlackBerry but sometimes we do have to take off our blinkers and give honest feedback to the company, random optimism is misleading without any basis.
Yes... Demos of Cascades are freely available on the Internet, as well as presentations at all of the last couple development cons.
RIM has has Cascades in public beta with a number of software vendors for a few months, just as at it with the NDK, explaining why we saw apps from EA and others before it was released.
I don't think you understand completely. Without Cascades, Skype couldn't build a Native app even if they wanted to. Forget that Cascades is nice, without a native UI framework its impossible. So until they get it there's no app.
Cascades is not in public beta. You cannot publicly go and download it now.
Again, stop talking rubbish and mis-using terms.
PRIVATE beta. I'm so freaking sorry that I made two little mistakes replying to people when I first woke up.
Of course I know cascades isn't in public beta, read my post.
No background apps (IM+ needs to be kept open to work, no apps like Find My Phone, BlackBerry Protect). No apps I know and love. A horribly limited OS compared to the BBOS (phones). And the RIM business slogan of "just wait". Wait for cascades? Why? Will that give us background apps? Will that give use apps that can integrate with say the native messaging app? Will that give us a context menu when we're viewing pictures? As far as I understands cascades is a UI enhancement. Crappy OS and apps are still crap no matter how good it looks.
I'm sure youre tired of hearing it, but these things take time. Even android didn't get a native task manager until ics came out. Heck.. The "x" button to close took a while to show up on Android too. That aside, background apps are kinda supported... Im+ for Android on the playbook works well for that.
And yes, the app selection is mediocre at best, but hey, pick your poison between the crap in Android marketplace and the lesser selection in app world.
We're also fed up with excuses like this.
Six blackberry in the home, down to 2 torch and playbook be sold on eBay. Changing the entires work force from bolds to iPhone that's 1000 phones
Can't take you seriously. Anyone who claims to want to change their workforce from BB to iOS must be out of their minds. What for? So your staff can play games on their phones? So that their address books can be compromised as we've seen before? So they can send our unprofessional emails with typos and auto correct blunders? So you can't manage their phones effectively? Yeah, I can't take you seriously.
LOL
Haha, and you think Blackberry Mobile Fusion is launched because?
RIM must be out of their mind to launch a product nobody could possibly make use of when their BB is doing so well in the Enterprise Market.
You do realize that iOS already exceeded BlackBerry's enterprise market share last year, right? Since you are 2 year behind in your news, I now understand why you are comfortable using technology that's 2 year behind.
Unfortunately, for some of us who don't have the luxury to work in an environment where we could afford to use only a BlackBerry with functions that would satisfy the need of a highschool student and actually need to review/annotate documents on a reasonably sized screen with reasonable annotating functions, or easily send locations with maps, work on collaboration projects/notes instantaneously, retrieve files from cloud or remote computer on the go, we either need an additional device or switch to a different device altogether.
It's one thing to be a fanboy, but it's another to dictate the needs of others and blatantly mock others for your ignorance.
Sigh, another post from Crackberry that repeats the RIM mantra of "just wait, sometime, somewhere, we promise, its going to get better." I'm surprised the posting didnt include a statement that said "go check out the demos from TAT to see what the future will hold".
What's it going to take for people to realize that consumers will NOT wait for the future when the future, arguably, is available today on other platforms. There's a reason that the Playbook is not selling well and it has nothing to do with the hardware - its all about the software and the lack thereof.
Yet time and again, we hear from fanboys, RIM officials, just to wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait with promises of a wonderous future. Well we've been waiting since the Playbook first launched. Wouldn't be nice if this wonderous future actually arrived at some point?
I sincerely hope that this wonderous and miraculous future that keeps being promised comes to pass; I just wonder how many of us will be alive to actually see it.
Totally agree !
I spent last night browsing the apps for blackberry, and just couldn't find anything that really interested me. I wasn't in the mood to experiment with any indi apps, and just wanted to find some big names that I could test out, like a CBC or CTV app. Yes, there is a a CBC news one, which is very barebones. Or a TSN app would be nice. I just want to spend some time before going to sleep browsing the news, and just find what's out there not so exciting. For now, I'm waiting.
There are many news apps, how many do you need to repeat the same news to you?
Saying "You don't need that" is just the kind of attitude that got RIM into the position they're in now.
Do you get all your news from one source and think all stories report the same thing in the same way? I hope not...
Considering Playbook uses a new OS with only 1.5 million users, 15 000 apps is quite impressive. I expect appworld to grow much faster when the phones come out.
Considering WP is a newer os, and there are 80.000 apps on their marketplace, I doubt you can say 15.000 apps on Playbook "is quite impressive".
So the question is. . .which comes first, apps or sales. . . obviously a large and diverse (not to mention well marketed) app collection can drive sales of the hardware. So the tools developers need to make amazing apps are still not available. . .I guess we can stop bothering Netflx and Skype and pester RIM? At least BB 10 is likely to release with a HUGE app selection. . .
Apps for ipad and android are only there because they have a limited internet browser.
I can do anything I need on my playbook, with the exception of a few minor things (netflix would be nice...) All from my browser!
You must be kidding. Android has limited browsers (plural)? LOL
Same Flash support, at least as fast as the PB browser, and tons of features (bookmark management, search on page, go up/down, voice control (e.g. Dolphin), add-on support, etc.).
In that case, I don't think you even need a tablet if your only use for it is web browsing.
You can probably get away with selling your BB and Playbook and just buy 1 single smartphone from another os, even wp, and you can probably do everything that you can now and maybe even better depending on your new handset.
Sounds like more of the same "just wait" kind of post except those of us not as yet happy with the PB progress are simply referred to as novices. How nice.
Sounds about right. . .good call . . .LOL
really love that someone posted this makes me feel a whole lot secure about playbooks future
If BB 10 Jam does not see Cascades launched, the Playbook has no future as BB 10 will NOT have the apps at launch and RIM will fail as a hardware manufacturer. RIM may stay whole as a company and transition to a software services company, but they will seal their fate in the hardware business.
BB 10 as a platform needs to be a complete platform with apps in order to have the slightest chance, and developers need time to learn the tools and produce the apps. We're talking May before Devs even get their hands on the tools at the earliest, so they need to be willing to bust their balls to get the apps done in time for launch and why would Devs want to do that when RIM themselves is in no hurry to get anything out on time?
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Spam.
Since when were people reluctant to shell out money for a better mousetrap?
I read that post.To say Cascades framework being 10 times better than UI framework from IOS and Android is a bit naive.
RIM will find that it's not easy to gain marketshare once it's lost.
+ the poster does realize that he/she is saying that RIM took a year (which for at least some consumer is the life of the tablet) and still failed to release a native UI framework. I don't see how that can be interpreted as reassuring.
That's more like ripping money off first generation buyers...I doubt consumers in general will not be afraid to be an early adopter of RIM's products from now on. And poor initial selling figures is almost certain going to equate to bad reputation for the product.
For a commercial product that people pay actual money to buy, the reasons listed are excuses...poor excuses...and is virtually saying that RIM is utterly irresponsible and sold beta products at full price to fund for its products in far future.
I have to agree. I love RIM and will be in line for BB 10, but they have to work like their existence depends on it with BB 10. Because it does. RIM needs to be FAST and flexible. They acquired TAT a year and a half ago, and the only tangible results of that acquisition to consumers have been a calculator and a scrapbook app. The tech demos are nice, but RIM no longer has time left to show demo after demo with no product. RIM keeps saying apps are important to them, yet in a year since launch of the playbook they have failed to get cascades out to developers. BlackBerry 10 has to be more then an alpha release and needs to have the major apps available AT LAUNCH, meaning that cascades should be in developer hands NOW. BB 10 Jam had better see RIM release Cascades as BB 10 can't launch like the Playbook, it has to be a finished product.
Unfortunately, we're going to be the only ones in line. It won't be the pandemonium you see at apple stores when they release a phone in a new color ... Everyone i know used to be on BB and have since moved on. I show them my 9930 and their like "nice, about 5 years late to the party". I like the 9930 and the Playbook (I'm one of the chumps that overpaid for a 32G PB, $650 US). My contract is up in December, RIM better help me want to stay, i don't know who they push all their attention on but it 'aint the consumer, for true.
Naive? What? If you know nothing about workflow and development then fine, but don't call me naive. The effects built into Cascades would require iOS or Android devs to be well-versed in webGL and physics to achieve the same result.
I know a lot about development, and I even know a bit about Cascades too. And I'm going to call you out right now: you have no idea what you're talking about. The fact that you mention devs having to know "webGL" to use Cascades (you don't - WebGL is OpenGL delivered through a web browser and has nothing to do with a native UI framework) indicates you're just talking rubbish and have zero understanding of the technology involved.
Now go away.
I never said devs had to know webGL to use Cascades... that's the whole point of Cascades. All those 3D effects are pre-bundled whithin the framework so all that hard work has been done before hand.
And webGL is the html5 standard of openGL. Not using Cascades would mean that anyone trying to achieve the same effects using WebWorks would have to use webGL. Reading my post now I can see how what I said could be misconstrued.
What I meant to say is that if anyone wanted to achieve the same effects on the PlayBook they would have to do so using webGL in html5, and on other platforms they would have to use some openGL libraries to achieve the same result as Cascades can do without that.
Love the PlayBook! Only going to get better!
Will Cascades give us Skype which is important for business people? I doubt so.
Is Blackberry selling us dreams? I think so.
@Gouk
Business can and do use Adobe Connect for video conferencing. It works great on a PlayBook.
http://www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html
As a consumer, I of course would like to see Skype, but I have it on my phone and laptop and desktop. I can wait til it (or something equivalent) comes to BB10.
Sorry, but you miss my point. My point was Skype can be build even without cascades. So it doesn't matter if there is no cascades at all.
Do you think I would ask my business associates to switch to Adobe Connect?
What makes you think we'll get Skype on BB10? Where have you heard this?
And no, it wouldn't matter if there is something equivalent coming unless your sole use of video conferencing is to talk to yourself on your Playbook through your BB.....
Unfotunately it's not free ...
I've tried ReelPortal (too much lag on overseas conversations) and everything else ... Bottom line: We either get Skype or Oovoo, etc; OR else, RIM has to make its audio/video-chat on the PlayBook cross-platform (maybe integrate it with BBM for BB users etc).
In other words: PB MUST have a high-quality cross-platform audio/video chat service, whether it's skype, oovoo, or invented at RIM.
BTW: The fact that Skype refuses to make a PB application smacks of corporate politics and I'm happy to leave skype if RIM makes an alternative. (I would do the same with Kindle, but the sideloaded android version works just fine so far...)
I don't need another "Around the corner" teaser. BBX 10.. around the corner. Android apps on Playbook.. around the corner. Devices trendy people desire... around the corner.
I'll give the biggulpseh a looksee. But, my developer friends have all but ignored RIM products and they don't have enough faith in the playbook O/S to consider their new devices now. Which, is really what they need to be thinking about for success. Hopefully the upcoming Florida event will help change minds.
For me.. I'm still in love with my 9900. I like my Playbook but find myself looking for a 10" version for magazines and periodicals. I'll stay with RIM, for now.
+100
There are 4 BlackBerry phones in our family. If this doesn't change soon, we will be forced to choose another device. As a blackberry loyalist for a number of years, I join in the chorus to explore RIM, "please get it together!!"
I'm in the same boat. I desperately want RIM to succeed at this because you can just see how the PlayBook oozes with potential. RIM really has to execute on all these promises soon. The NDK and Cascades means nothing if they don't amount to great apps within the next year. And it will mean even less when loyalists like us have no choice but to look elsewhere.
Not to rub it into RIM's face, but while we are struggling with even the basics, this is what the Galaxy Note (a phone that has been in Asia for half a year) already has:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl-QNJf8j-I&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVufvK0-dA4&feature=relmfu
Look familiary? These are what RIM showed as "future concepts" for the new os and this is just one single handset in the android os.
Being loyal is one thing, but RIM is really testing my patient. I'm more than willing to be loyal if RIM had roughly the same level of functions as their competitors (though I wouldn't say the same for the general consumers), but when everything they produce are consistently behind by a year or two at least, RIM is really testing my patience. The main problem is that working around East Asia, where technology adoption is insane, I simply can't work with only BB and Playbook anymore, it just doesn't fit in with the general working environment. For the past month, I've been carrying two phones with me and use BB for general emailing only, and I feel stupid doing it.
I can say one thing for sure, RIM will be completely gone in the Japan-Korea-Hongkong/China region very soon simply because it's not possible to use it. Whatever productivity it offered through the keyboard is almost negligible comparing to the general functions it lacks and the difficulty in reviewing files on the small screen.
And unfortunately, I don't think RIM can get any share back even if they do manage to catch up because they have been behind for too long.
Cascades *will* lead to great apps. I would guess that most medium/large sized software projects are based on C++ plus some kind of widgets. Right now, the only option those programmers have is to rewrite everything in OpenGL or in Java. They are just not going to do that. But with Cascades, it will be just a matter of mapping their current widget set to Cascades. So, one tenth of the work, and more sales (because native apps look better). I cannot imagine that developers will not react to that. Especially in the start, when the number of native apps will still be small, so they get big exposure.
+100
There are 4 BlackBerry phones in our family. If this doesn't change soon, we will be forced to choose another device. As a blackberry loyalist for a number of years, I join in the chorus to explore RIM, "please get it together!!"
RIM could spend it's last Canadian dollar bribing Netflix to put it's crappy service on the PlayBook. As they are handing out the final paychecks and selling the furniture, can you guess what these whiners would be saying? "Where is Skype?"
You knew, or could have found what apps are NOT available for the PlayBook when you bought it. You bought it anyway. What, on a promise that App X would be here soon? Every manufacturer makes claims that sometimes don't come true.
Lastly, there could be a googleplex of apps in App World for the PB. If it doesn't have the one you want, it may as well have no apps at all.
"Every manufacturer makes claims that sometimes don't come true."
but only 1 manufacturer make claims that never come true