TechnologyThe home business and culture of our digital lives, in the L.A. Times
Research in Motion desires to be sure that its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet might be packed with apps when it arrives in retailers early next yr, and Tuesday it called on developers to start submitting apps for the system.
The apps, if approved,
Microsoft Office Standard, are going to be marketed by way of RIM's BlackBerry App World store.
The Canadian tech giant also updated its BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK (software developer kit) for compatibility with Adobe's AIR software, which allows developers to build apps using Adobe Flash and other tools on Tuesday.
Apple's iPad, which the PlayBook is looking to compete with directly,
Microsoft Office Professional Plus, famously lacks support for Adobe Flash and, as a result, many websites and videos aren't viewable on the hugely popular system.
So far, RIM has made Flash compatibility a major selling point of the PlayBook and partnered with Adobe executives to show off the tablet at demonstrations and conferences.
"With its groundbreaking performance and robust support for industry standard development tools, the BlackBerry PlayBook provides an exceptional platform that appeals to a wide range of mobile app developers,
Office 2010 Professional Plus Key, including Adobe AIR and Flash developers, HTML web developers, corporate developers and application hobbyists," Tyler Lessard, RIM's vice president of global alliances and developer relations, said in a statement.
"We are very pleased to be working with developers in advance of the product launch, and the opening of BlackBerry App World to accept BlackBerry PlayBook apps is an important upcoming step,
Office 2007 Enterprise Key," the statement continued.
RIM has yet to announce a release date for the PlayBook, but has said it will sell for less than $500 and be the "fastest" tablet yet -- though at 1GHz, its internal computer is technically the same speed as the iPad.
The initial PlayBook is going to be Wi-Fi only and will not support a cellular connection, though 3G-capable models will arrive at a later date, RIM has said.
The PlayBook will have a 7-inch touchscreen and, unlike the iPad, cameras in the front and rear of the unit for shooting photos and video, as well as video chatting.
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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Upper photo: Mike Lazaridis, president and co-chief executive officer of Groundwork in Movement, left,
Office Pro Plus 2010, and Kevin Lynch, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Adobe Systems, demonstrate AIR and Flash content in the first live demonstration of the BlackBerry PlayBook at Adobe MAX 2010 in Los Angeles on Oct. 25. Credit: Bloomberg
Lower photo: A BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Credit: Research In Motion