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OS Watch: RIM Regrets & iPhone Instructions

September 10, 2010 | Sarah Reedy |

Developers just hate developing for Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM)'s BlackBerry operating system, according to a Chicago-area developer who kicks off our inaugural OS complaints and compliments column.

Longtime mobile developer Uki Dominque Lucas says the consensus is that building for BlackBerry is difficult thanks to its Java format and that the C-level-executive, email-only user demographics are less than desirable.

"Right now, developers only develop for BlackBerry if they have to -- if they are forced to," Lucas says. "The perception of it has to change."

Granted, Lucas is also the head of Chicago Android, an Android training and development community, but he's been a developer long before he was an Android fanboy. He's also developed for iPhone, RIM, and WebOS, and his 12-year history in the industry has led him to place his bets on Android.

Android has its fair share of issues, Lucas admits, but he doesn't think fragmentation is one of them. It fosters competition and the more competition, the more money to go around, he says. It inspires a classic case of "Jones syndrome" amongst developers.

Not everyone is so eager to keep up though. (See Android’s Fragmentation ‘Problem’, Android’s 5 Flavors of Fragmentation, and Android Defrags, Takes Over.)

  • Frag Watch: It appears Google's software savior could experience even further fragmentation in China where former Google China president Kai-Fu Lee announced plans to launch an Android-based OS, dubbed Tapas. Developed for the China market, it will be coming to smartphones within the next few weeks, featuring such region-specific features as a media player app for karaoke and an e-reader app optimized for reading whilst on the subway.

  • Fart-free iPhones: Apple Inc., for the first time, has released guidelines to help developers through its complicated review process, and the gist of it is: Apps have to be useful, high quality, and can't be offensive. No more farting apps, Apple says.

    Apple also lifted its ban on third-party analytic data by companies "owned or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices," making Google's AdMob Inc. a happy camper. (See RIM Wants Ads, Apple Doesn't and JumpTap Lures Developers From Apple, Google.)

  • Prepping Windows Phone 7: The new Microsoft Corp. operating system will be making its market debut in NYC on Oct. 11, according to Pocket-lint, citing multiple unnamed sources. Handsets will follow soon thereafter.

    We know that all four Tier 1 wireless operators in the US will carry handsets featuring the OS, but IDC says that might not matter. The analyst firm says that Microsoft will regain some lost market share, but will still be dead last in terms of OS by 2014.

    Windows Mobile's worldwide market share is 6.8 percent, but will grow to 9.8 percent of the smartphone market by 2014. Hey, at least it is growing, which is more than IDC is predicting for both RIM and the iPhone.

    — Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile



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