BlackBerry App Developer Success Stories
At least trying not to be too outdone by Apple’s overwhelming successful launches and announcements. BlackBerry has offered up some information on the latest developer success stories. The last few weeks have been very busy for the BlackBerry® platform teams. They have launched important updates to BlackBerry WebWorks™ SDK (v2.1) for both the BlackBerry Tablet OS and smartphone OS, as well as the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR (in addition to working with Adobe to include optimized support for the BlackBerry Tablet OS in Adobe Flash Builder 4.5. They have also released BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) Social Platform SDK 1.0 for BlackBerry Java SDK along with a beta version of the platform for BlackBerry WebWorks.
They have shared lots of significant information including new screen resolutions and simulators for upcoming BlackBerry 7 OS devices, stats about the new OS and the BlackBerry App World storefront to help you choose a target OS for your app (psst – 88% of free downloads and 94% of paid downloads originate from smartphones running OS 5 and OS 6).
While all of this was going on, there have been some great success stories coming from the BlackBerry app developer community. Check these out below…
Crystal Balls
Crystal Balls from ingames is a simple game where players must combine three or more balls of the same color to make them explode – it’s like TETRIS® meets Gem Swap. The Crystal Ball Free version is almost at one million downloads now.
Hangman And Hangman Kids
Spice Labs Pvt Ltd. have seen more than 16 million downloads of their paid and free applications, which include Hangman and HangmanKids. Spice Labs is focused on games with an educational twist and look to engage and teach children and youth.
WeatherEye HD
WeatherEye HD is an application for the BlackBerryPlayBook tablet that was built using the BlackBerry WebWorks toolset and is not only visually rich, but is also designed to take advantage of the BlackBerry WebWorks tools to create a deep app experience. In a short period of time, this app has seen more than 50,000 downloads.
Doodle Blast
Doodle Blast on the BlackBerry PlayBook is an addictive game that has hooked family and friends. Users create “ink” pathways to get balls to fall into a container and achieve levels. They have had almost 50,000 downloads since the launch of their application.
Jingu
This social app from Jingu Apps Inc. allows users to create avatars for BBM, access a wide assortment of new emoticons and participate in a new social environment. In a very short time, Jingu has surpassed a million downloads.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]