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Apple on Friday quietly posted a Getting Started guide for new iOS developers. The overview is intended as a top-level look and goes with basics such as setting up Xcode, understanding what types of code are needed, and more abstract issues such as design guidelines and App Store submission.
Apple's iPad still doesn't have any immediate threat from other tablets if web usage is an indicator, Chitika reckoned on Wednesday. For every 100 iPad web hits, just 2.4 came from the next-closest Amazon Kindle Fire. Its design sibling the BlackBerry PlayBook was next at about 1.8, while the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab families were near-even at 1.6.
At its MAX tech conference, Adobe promised that it will release Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 at 9PM Pacific Time (midnight) on Monday. At the same time, LG and TiVo have become the latest partners to bring Flash-based apps using AIR to connected TVs and digital home devices. The latest code from Adobe will allow hardware-accelerated 2D and 3D graphics rendering using Stage 3D.
Apparent screenshots of a build of RIM’s forthcoming BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0 release have been leaked on a Chinese website, MaxPDA. If accurate, the images (embedded below) suggest that RIM has skipped out on support for its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), which will seemingly remain confined to the way it is currently deployed through its BlackBerry Bridge solution. The screenshots also show an Android icon, indicating that RIM is making good on its promise to add a wrapper allowing Android apps to run on the PlayBook.
We had the opportunity to try the BlackBerry PlayBook at CES on Friday and discovered that it may have sync with more than just the BlackBerry. A representative on the show floor told Electronista that there might be plans to sync some services with the iPhone or other platforms. While there wasn't much definite, it was mainly something that RIM 'hadn't communicated yet,' the staffer said.
Verizon considers the iPhone as "essential to its future success," Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu said on Tuesday. Receiving further updates from purported sources, he understood that Verizon is "excited" to launch the iPhone. The carrier allegedly still believes that Apple is vital to offsetting slowing Android sales.
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis' turn at an interview at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference confirmed that larger versions of the BlackBerry PlayBook were coming. He was confident that the seven-inch model was "just the perfect size," but there were "plans for different sizes," he said when asked. When they would come and what dimensions they would have weren't said.
RIM today posted a video (below) pitting the BlackBerry PlayBook against the iPad in a browsing test. The newer tablet's dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor appropriately gave it an edge in the comparison, as most pages, especially those heavily dependent on JavaScript and more complex code like the ACID3 test. A visit to Adidas' website also took advantage of RIM basing the BlackBerry Tablet OS on Adobe's Flash platform, as it can render Flash on the web properly where the iPad simply turns up an error.
RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie has revealed in an interview in Korea that its forthcoming Blackberry Playbook will reach the US market in Q1 2011 priced at under $500. Originally unveiled in September, Balsillie also indicated that the device would then begin rolling out globally during spring 2011.
RIM today posted the first SDK and emulators for its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The kits let both Macs and Windows PCs write apps in BlackBerry Tablet OS' preferred Adobe AIR format and gives a disk image that can run in VMware and possibly other virtual machines. The release gives developers an early opportunity to design ahead of BlackBerry App World submissions and the PlayBook's early 2011 launch.
Adobe today stepped up development of its non-computer Flash plans by launching AIR 2.5. The app for creating non-browser Flash apps can now package them for Android and iPhone devices but also tablets, including the iPad and the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. Google TV support isn't yet built in, but AIR can build apps for Samsung's SmartTV platform.
RIM during a breakfast at the BlackBerry DevCon session today said the QNX foundations at the heart of the BlackBerry PlayBook would eventually replace BlackBerry OS itself. Confirming a rumor, a vice president said the roots to the currently isolated BlackBerry Tablet OS would eventually spread to the smartphones. BlackBerry 7, which doesn't have a timeframe, would likely be a gateway ahead of the full switch.
