When digital media company PineLake Communications® wanted to learn more about BlackBerry® 10 development, it developed a simple application on the Android™ platform and ported it to the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device. The company quickly learned that porting the app was not only a simple and straightforward process, but also that the visibility of their application on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet was far superior to any other platform. After enjoying measurable early success with their Cubifice® app, the company is looking forward to the official launch of the game on the BlackBerry 10 platform.
PineLake’s Creative Director, Bill Larocque, Cubifice lead developer, Dave Wagler and Associate Account Director, Liana Buenaventura Brown talked about the ease of porting the application, why it is important to develop for the BlackBerry platform and the importance of sharing the app with other BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device developers.
Describe your experience porting your application to the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device.
Dave: The porting process only took us one hour. The application was built using the OpenGL framework, which has a lot of existing support. Once I read the documentation about how to convert the application, it was extremely easy to install the BlackBerry tools into Eclipse™. After a couple of clicks, we came up with the BlackBerry 10 application. It took a very small amount of increased labor to build on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry 10 versions, and the rewards have certainly been worth it.
Bill: We couldn’t believe how quick, easy and powerful the porting process was. That last hour of work was the most productive time that we spent on the entire project and it allowed us to work with a real live device. I would recommend that all Android developers try it because it is so straightforward and has already proven to be successful for us.
Why was it important for you to develop this application on the BlackBerry platform?
Bill: The BlackBerry user community is very engaged, and there is far greater visibility of your application on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront than on other platforms. BlackBerry App World has a clear layout and does not suffer from the over-saturation that you find somewhere like Google Play, where your app quickly feels lost in a huge sea of similar applications. With this application, not only do we have 25 times more downloads on BlackBerry App World than on Google Play, but we’ve also been able to maintain that high number and visibility. This visibility translates into a far better return on investment once the app becomes monetized because we will have to spend far less on marketing the application to users.
Why is developing for the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device such a good opportunity?
Bill: It’s important to be able to put an application on an actual device, put it in other peoples’ hands and have them test it. Having access to the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device means that we can avoid going through launch issues and beta testing. We also have the ability to submit this application to BlackBerry App World and allow other developers to download it on their BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha devices. Developers are keen to download each other’s apps and outdo each other, leading to healthy competition and better overall apps.
Liana: We feel confident that we are well ahead of the curve for the launch of the BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Developing the application on the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device ahead of time helps us ensure that we’ve covered all of our bases and gives us the utmost confidence that we’ll be able to deliver a great experience to the public. We now have the opportunity to fine-tune the experience with the help of every BlackBerry developer who downloads it onto their device, and that’s a huge plus.
