Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) introduced version 2.1 of its BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for Tablet OS, adding a series of APIs designed to foster a deeper, more interactive user experience. Chief among the improvements: The addition of RIM's In App Payment API, enabling developers to sell virtual goods and services directly from their BlackBerry PlayBook applications. The BlackBerry WebWorks SDK 2.1 also incorporates RIM's Camera API, Microphone API, PIN API and File and Directory APIs as well as tools for configuring security permissions and configuring the homescreen category for each app.
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RIM has shipped 500,000 PlayBooks. |
BlackBerry WebWorks SDK 2.1 updates the API reference guide with new getting-started information detailing how to configure apps to integrate the different BlackBerry APIs. For developers more comfortable leveraging a URI or RESTful approach, RIM also is rolling out an additional mechanism to call some of the BlackBerry WebWorks APIs by making AJAX calls. RIM adds it will continue expanding the coverage of the URI/RESTful implementation to give developers expanded options to interact with the Tablet OS. The WebWorks SDK 2.1 is available for download here.
RIM issued version 2.0 of the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK in late April, in tandem with the North American retail release of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Both the PlayBook and the BlackBerry Tablet OS are built on the QNX Neutrino microkernel architecture, which promises developers easy portability of C-based code alongside support for OpenGL for 2D and 3D graphics-intensive applications. According to RIM, it's all as simple as repackaging, code-signing and submitting Java and Android apps to BlackBerry App World; to further spur programmer interest, RIM is partnering with cross-platform game development solutions providers Ideaworks Labs and Unity Technologies to enable developers to more efficiently port their games to the PlayBook.
RIM said it shipped 500,000 PlayBooks in its most recent quarter, though the company declined to provide sell-through numbers (the number of devices purchased by end users).
For more:
- read this Inside BlackBerry Developer's Blog entry
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