The focus of smartphone development is moving, at least to some extent, from the hardware to software and applications. The 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference, which is being held Nov. 9-12 in San Francisco, is centered on ensuring that the applications for the BlackBerry are as useful and flexible as those for Apple's iPhone, Palm's Pre, the Droid from Motorola, and other smartphone platforms that are competing for market share.
"It's a commitment to keep investing in the platform, a commitment to provide a richer environment and better capabilities for BlackBerry developers," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for the NPD Group. "RIM has done very well in terms of market share, but needs to evolve its broadband capabilities and user interface to keep competitive with more recent operating systems."
New Offerings for Developers
Research in Motion has already made several developer-related announcements. The BlackBerry Advertising Service will enable developers to integrate advertising into apps. The ad units, which will be available from specialty advertising networks, will be compliant with Mobile Marketing Association guidelines.
Subscribers will be able to add calendar or contact entries and link to BlackBerry App World applications from an ad. Sophisticated reporting information  -- such as ad impressions, clicks, conversions and earnings -- also will be available.
RIM also announced the BlackBerry Payment Service, which will create revenue streams for developers by enabling the sale of premium content , game upgrades, and other value-added functions. The availability of push services will be expanded to all registered developers from its current status as an exclusive service for members of the BlackBerry Alliance Program.
Better GPS Functionality
RIM said new GPS functionality includes cell-site geolocation -- a more accurate means of locating a device -- as well as reverse geocoding and Travel Time, an application that can provide estimates of the time necessary to reach a destination.
The conference also presented new features for developers. The company announced upgrades designed for fast development of rich content and applications. OpenGL ES support, RIM said, will enable Java developers to create 3-D games and graphics for phones using version 5.0 and higher of the BlackBerry operating system. The company also is including a GUI builder in the BlackBerry Java plug-in for Eclipse.
Finally, the BlackBerry Theme Studio -- which includes the BlackBerry Theme Builder and the BlackBerry Composer -- is a free suite of design, illustration and animation tools now available for developers.
Not a Rip and Replace
Rubin said the moves are a gradual change, not a rip and replace. "It's a continued evolution of the BlackBerry OS," he said. "It's not a wholesale scrapping and re-architecture of what they have done to date, which is what Palm did."
BlackBerry and Adobe also used the developer conference to announce that Adobe Flash and Adobe Creative Suite content-development and authoring tools will be customized for easy use in the creation of content and applications for BlackBerry phones.
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