RIM: We are creating a brand new product. And we are ready to conquer the world with him again
RIM CEO and President Thorsten Heins stepped onto the stage of BlackBerry World 2012 not only to demonstrate the elements of the RIM mobile platform, but also to show the world that the company is not yet ready to surrender. RIM puts everything on the BlackBerry 10 , a completely new platform. “I'm here because I believe in the unique value that BlackBerry provides to our customers every day,” Hynes told the audience. He spoke about the complete restart of the mobile platform RIM, which "will go to the next level and offer something unique." OS changes are so dramatic that the new BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha, shown by the company, does not have a physical keyboard. They have always been the hallmark of the platform. If they are not, what will make platform fans use devices from RIM? And what will convince users of other platforms to switch to BlackBerry phones? The company did not exclude physical keyboards from its plans completely, but when the top device for developers comes out without a keyboard, it becomes clear that changes are coming.
Of course, the potential of the new platform is huge. And if RIM manages to lure developers, it may be able to return to the market. At least in terms of innovative technologies.
We talked with Andrei Kiselev, head of the Russian representative office of Research In Motion, about the future of the platform and the efforts that RIM is investing in attracting developers to a new platform.
')
We are meeting with you to ask a series of questions about RIM’s participation in the development of the mobile development ecosystem, and interaction with Russian mobile application developers. How does RIM work with them now?
Now we attach great importance to the development of an ecosystem of applications and developers in the world and especially in Russia. We have a number of projects that we are leading in this direction. Today, for example, we had a seminar for the developers of the BlackBerry 10 Jam Tour, which was held in Moscow. Its slogan is “Be one of the first to master development on a new platform.” It was a one-day application development workshop. On it we distribute a limited number of prototypes of our device. He was shown to the public on the BlackBerry World and while this device is for developers, the hardware is not yet final. These seminars - one of the directions of our support for developers, creating an ecosystem. We run them in 23 cities around the world, literally after BlackBerry World launched the first one. One of the main theses - our platform is absolutely new, written from scratch, the most modern.
In addition to the seminar, BlackBerry recently introduced the BlackBerry Educational Program in Russia. The program, which universities from all over the country will be able to participate in, provides curricula and the necessary resources to organize training in the administration and support of BlackBerry solutions, as well as software development for the BlackBerry platform. At the first stage, the BlackBerry educational program will start working in two Russian universities - Saratov State Technical University and St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University.
New BB10 mobile system made on QNX?
Yes, the kernel is made on QNX, but additional settings have been made, and, interestingly, they all support open standards. That is, in order to develop applications, it is not necessary to learn something specific only for this platform. Let's say if you are a web developer, you can use HTML5 and CSS, what you know. If you are developing games, you can use the native code ...
We are seriously improving our browser to be fully compatible with HTML5. According to the latest tests, the PlayBook received one of the highest marks for matching HTML5 among all desktop browsers, excluding Chrome 16.
With regard to applications, there is an Apple model, the so-called “fenced garden”, when all applications are thoroughly checked and nothing else can be downloaded. And there is an Android model in which virtually everyone is allowed. What model will have BlackBerry and Research in Motion? Can you, for example, download applications from third-party sites?
The short answer is yes, it will be possible to download both from the site and from the computer. But, of course, the main distribution method will be our BlackBerry AppWorld application store. In it, we offer the means of promotion and marketing of applications, we have on the TOP-25 main screen, etc. We say that it will be interesting and profitable for developers, but we do not exclude the fact that if they want to distribute the application from their site, for example, they can open the site in the browser and download it directly. In AppWorld, there are already examples when developers send an app to AppWorld and simultaneously upload them on their websites.
Applications in your store will be censored?
Yes, they will. We offer standard recommendations for applications and check that it does not load the network, so that there are no obscenities, and so on. Any developer registers, sends his application and within one to two weeks it returns to him with the answer. He has a console where he publishes apps.
How much is participation?
Is free.
Changes planned?
Maybe, but I do not know, to be honest. Because we have a lot of different departments, everything is in Canada. Many things in a large company with 15,000 people are difficult to control. Obviously, there is a serious movement towards the developers, because we understand that the ecosystem is very important. The ecosystem elements are a good platform, a good distribution method and good tools for developers.
I started talking about open standards that developers can use. We also support, for example, integrated development environments - Eclipse, Visual Studio (it just adds a plugin). People don't need to learn anything new again. Who developed at QNX, can use QNX Momentics. In addition, we are very interested in Qt, this is such a framework, a popular Nokia environment, and we included it as an integral part of our library, our native code. In fact, with Qt, you can develop very high-quality visual applications that can interact with system components at a lower level. That is, it is not just an add-on; it is a serious integration of Qt into the development system.
That is, the Qt-application by default will work in BB10 or need a conversion?
We say that developers who know Qt may well develop normally for BlackBerry. Regarding the conversion ... We support Android applications with a minimum of not even porting, but repacking. That is, you just need to take the Android application and repack it with another extension. There are some restrictions, for example, Android 2.3.3 is supported, and there is a reservation that a certain amount of API is not supported, that is, not all of them are supported automatically. But for this, we have a code verification tool to see how compatible the applications will be. API restrictions are actually small. AppWorld already has some apps ported from Android.
How many developers are currently developing on the RIM platform in Russia?
In Russia? We are seeing a very serious increase in registered developers, that is, people who came with their applications. And the number of applications on the PlayBook has increased by 70% over the past three months. Probably, this is partly due to the fact that we made an Android player in which you can convert applications, and partly with the fact that we announced the BlackBerry 10 platform, saying that everything that is currently working on the PlayBook will work on BlackBerry ten.
Today we have three platforms: the existing platform for BlackBerry 4.6-7 smartphones, the platform for PlayBook 2.1.0 tablets, and the future universal platform, BlackBerry 10. BlackBerry 10 is based on the PlayBook. When BlackBerry 10 is ready, the PlayBook can be upgraded to a new version. Old applications and old devices, unfortunately, will not be able to upgrade.
Will the old applications in BlackBerry 10 work?
No automatic, they will need to be redone.
If now the developer thinks, “on what platform to develop?”, Then we can recommend to develop on HTML5, because everything will work in the browser on all three platforms.
HTML5 offers many different tools and opportunities for developers. For example, WebWorks is an add-on that allows you not only to create online applications in a browser or website, but to create applications that can be downloaded to application stores, sent to AppWorld.
In May, there was an announcement that if the application gained sales of $ 1,000, then RIM will pay up to $ 10,000, will this work in Russia?
Yes, it was announced, the condition - the application must be registered and certified. It was for everyone without restrictions, including for Russia.
Is today's event in Moscow, are these evangelical speeches or practical examples?
In fact, both. We are creating a department of evangelical developers who will do this and now there are already a few people - they are now traveling the world with these BlackBerry 10 Tour Jam seminars.
There was a plenary session at the conference, where they talked about BlackBerry 10, about our platform, and then there were 8 master classes, where our evangelical developers at the same time talked about two approaches to development on BB10: Native and Web. The program, by the way, can be found at http://www.blackberryjamworldtour.com/moscow/agenda .
We do not just speak, but also show. We listen to what developers are asking for. They expressed the need for adequate development tools - we did. We provide them with devices, prototypes on which they can test their applications, see how they work. And, interestingly, this prototype can be upgraded to the following firmware.
One of the main problems of Android is its terrible fragmentation. How many devices will you have, is there any risk of fragmentation of the BlackBerry 10 platform?
I cannot say that we will have one device for the next 5 years. Generally speaking, one cannot do without a certain level of fragmentation. But we are trying to show developers a clear roadmap of device development and update policies. We know that this is a sore point for developers.
The only thing I can say about the keyboards. We are doing the best in the industry mechanical keyboard, it is generally recognized, and we are going to continue to make them in the future. Now our first device with the BlackBerry 10, we are trying to transfer our experience in typing and on the virtual keyboard, we have implemented the technique of predicting and recognizing the way people type, a special technology. But many people ask - will there be a device with a qwerty keyboard? Our CEO said he would. This is the only thing I can confirm. When and how the device will look like, I do not know.
One of the things we do with text input is the text input system with one finger. For example, print the first word, and then the system will prompt the words that you usually use next.
And the tablets in which direction will develop? Will tablets have a physical keyboard?
We will seriously develop tablets as a direction. The tablet is one of the proven formats. What they will be ...
Speaking of the keyboard, we recently released a separate keyboard for the PlayBook. It looks about the same, only twice as thin and connects via Bluetooth.
There will be new screens, new processors, we are considering various options. Now, for example, we have three PlayBook 16, 32 and 64 GB, while they only Wi-Fi. But we will have a PlayBook with 3G. Now I can’t say anything concrete.
How do you position your PlayBook?
We position our tablet as a professional device. This is partly due to the fact that QNX is used in industrial and even military systems, in space ships, bridges are raised in St. Petersburg - the Trinity Bridge, for example, works on QNX. But still very important is that QNX, as an operating system, today operates in 20 million vehicles worldwide, that is, QNX is a very well-known supplier for on-board computers, for multimedia systems in all leading vehicles. All German, American mass, etc. running on QNX.
One of our directions in the future is the creation of a single OS, not only for smartphones and tablets, but also a global mobile platform that will be extended to other areas. And cars are the future that will come soon. Now, for example, operators offer "Smart Home", which can be controlled from the Network. We believe that having QNX, having expertise in mobile technology and having our RIM infrastructure (separate secure channels from operators for BlackBerry traffic around the world), we have a very good foundation for creating a unified future technology. And we are actively working in this direction.
Maybe you saw, we announced the Porsche car, completely created on QNX-technologies. You sit in the car, put the phone on the panel and it connects to the car through NFC and you immediately read your mail, see your messages on the screen, you can control the rear seat screens for children, TV ... We showed it to BlackBerry World, it was ours wow factor.
QNX will open as Android? Will there be any Open Source modifications?
QNX today exists as a real-time embedded operating system, which is used to automate workshops, hydroelectric power plants, in a military woman. This branch will continue as it is. Plus, we are using the QNX kernel to make an operating system that is as convenient as possible for developers to develop. But it is unlikely to be open.
Initially, BlackBerry devices were focused on the business environment, now they are partially or completely reoriented to users. What is the development strategy in this direction?
Historically, BlackBerry has been used by business users, and this reputation is still preserved in Russia and in the world. In fact, several years ago, we began to expand strategically on users and on retail, on ordinary consumers. It so happened that out of 78 million users, about half of business users and we among the mobile platforms are leaders in the corporate market. We are going to continue to focus on business users and at the same time pay attention to consumer applications, the consumer market. For example, in BlackBerry 10 there will be a very serious functionality and software for working with content. You can watch videos, you can download videos, you can edit videos online — and such things are revolutionary. We understand the tendency to use our own devices at work, when people are not ready to work at work with one device, but to come home with another. And so BlackBerry 10 will be both a business device and a device for consumers - it will have high-quality multimedia, it will have very good social networks.
We use the maximum of one of the advantages of QNX - its multitasking, and the real multitasking. For example, on the PlayBook today you can run several applications, minimize them and see that a toy is playing in one, a video is spinning in another, and so on. Already today, you can turn on the PlayBook video, bring it up via the HDMI connector to the plasma and leave it to play, and continue to do other things on the tablet itself. That is all in real time. This is one of the chips, one of the features of QNX, which we will further develop in BlackBerry 10.
In fact, in BlackBerry 10 there will be no separation between applications, there will be no difference between the applications from which you came out or into which you entered.
The difference between running and not running the application will not be? Will they all react instantly? In real time?
Yes, there will be no restrictions associated with sleeping applications in the background, when it freezes until you open it. This will be a real multi-tasking, enhanced technology QNX.
By the way, QNX is a very interesting product, which was created 30 years ago. They told me that in Russia, in fact, it has been actively used for 10 years or even more in industry, in the oil industry, in the military industrial complex. I was told the story that oil companies come to the QNX distributor in Russia and they say that we need a system that will manage our oil platform, which is located in the taiga 300 km from the base, it must be super-reliable. If something happens, then you need to call a helicopter and it will cost us very much. We must make it just work like a clock. And so they use QNX.
We transfer this industrial technology to mobile products. We believe that connecting this kernel with high-quality tools for developers and with a new shell, which we also developed, allows us to create a unique system.
Blackberry Cascades?
Yes, Blackberry Cascades is our new graphical environment, which allows developers to create visually very high-quality applications without drawing all the graphic elements, but simply using some of the tools through the API. This is a regular BlackBerry 10 interface and developers can create their beautiful applications in a few lines of code.The application will work and respond to user actions also in real time, without delays and brakes.
When will the system come out?
BlackBerry 10 will be released before the end of calendar 2012.
How much will the device cost?
I unfortunately do not know this, nobody knows yet.
I already think the last question: your assessment of the current situation with mobile platforms? We recently published news from IDC that by 2016 the BlackBerry platform will be in 3rd place on a par with the iPhone and behind Android and Windows Phone in market share. How do you rate it?
It is very difficult to predict what will happen in the future. We know that we have a quality product, we have a quality platform. We have a mission in which we believe and which we implement methodically and consistently. And we continue to believe in it looking at the growing number of developers who register in the store, who come to our seminars. We see that people are interested, that developers appreciate the opportunity and potential, that they can use their skills, that they do not need to learn anything. They appreciate the openness of the platform and the possibility of monetization, high-quality distribution in the face of the app store. The mobile market is very competitive. Everything is changing very quickly and what will be difficult for me to judge in two years, the future has not yet been determined.
But I like this update period, the new system. We switch to it using our existing advantages, such as data security and security, reliability of data transmission, and infrastructure reliability. And we bring a lot of new things into it - video, interfaces, new paradigms. We create a brand new product. And we are ready to conquer the world with him again.
Of course, the potential of the new platform is huge. And if RIM manages to lure developers, it may be able to return to the market. At least in terms of innovative technologies.
We talked with Andrei Kiselev, head of the Russian representative office of Research In Motion, about the future of the platform and the efforts that RIM is investing in attracting developers to a new platform.
')
We are meeting with you to ask a series of questions about RIM’s participation in the development of the mobile development ecosystem, and interaction with Russian mobile application developers. How does RIM work with them now?
Now we attach great importance to the development of an ecosystem of applications and developers in the world and especially in Russia. We have a number of projects that we are leading in this direction. Today, for example, we had a seminar for the developers of the BlackBerry 10 Jam Tour, which was held in Moscow. Its slogan is “Be one of the first to master development on a new platform.” It was a one-day application development workshop. On it we distribute a limited number of prototypes of our device. He was shown to the public on the BlackBerry World and while this device is for developers, the hardware is not yet final. These seminars - one of the directions of our support for developers, creating an ecosystem. We run them in 23 cities around the world, literally after BlackBerry World launched the first one. One of the main theses - our platform is absolutely new, written from scratch, the most modern.
In addition to the seminar, BlackBerry recently introduced the BlackBerry Educational Program in Russia. The program, which universities from all over the country will be able to participate in, provides curricula and the necessary resources to organize training in the administration and support of BlackBerry solutions, as well as software development for the BlackBerry platform. At the first stage, the BlackBerry educational program will start working in two Russian universities - Saratov State Technical University and St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University.
New BB10 mobile system made on QNX?
Yes, the kernel is made on QNX, but additional settings have been made, and, interestingly, they all support open standards. That is, in order to develop applications, it is not necessary to learn something specific only for this platform. Let's say if you are a web developer, you can use HTML5 and CSS, what you know. If you are developing games, you can use the native code ...
We are seriously improving our browser to be fully compatible with HTML5. According to the latest tests, the PlayBook received one of the highest marks for matching HTML5 among all desktop browsers, excluding Chrome 16.
With regard to applications, there is an Apple model, the so-called “fenced garden”, when all applications are thoroughly checked and nothing else can be downloaded. And there is an Android model in which virtually everyone is allowed. What model will have BlackBerry and Research in Motion? Can you, for example, download applications from third-party sites?
The short answer is yes, it will be possible to download both from the site and from the computer. But, of course, the main distribution method will be our BlackBerry AppWorld application store. In it, we offer the means of promotion and marketing of applications, we have on the TOP-25 main screen, etc. We say that it will be interesting and profitable for developers, but we do not exclude the fact that if they want to distribute the application from their site, for example, they can open the site in the browser and download it directly. In AppWorld, there are already examples when developers send an app to AppWorld and simultaneously upload them on their websites.
Applications in your store will be censored?
Yes, they will. We offer standard recommendations for applications and check that it does not load the network, so that there are no obscenities, and so on. Any developer registers, sends his application and within one to two weeks it returns to him with the answer. He has a console where he publishes apps.
How much is participation?
Is free.
Changes planned?
Maybe, but I do not know, to be honest. Because we have a lot of different departments, everything is in Canada. Many things in a large company with 15,000 people are difficult to control. Obviously, there is a serious movement towards the developers, because we understand that the ecosystem is very important. The ecosystem elements are a good platform, a good distribution method and good tools for developers.
I started talking about open standards that developers can use. We also support, for example, integrated development environments - Eclipse, Visual Studio (it just adds a plugin). People don't need to learn anything new again. Who developed at QNX, can use QNX Momentics. In addition, we are very interested in Qt, this is such a framework, a popular Nokia environment, and we included it as an integral part of our library, our native code. In fact, with Qt, you can develop very high-quality visual applications that can interact with system components at a lower level. That is, it is not just an add-on; it is a serious integration of Qt into the development system.
That is, the Qt-application by default will work in BB10 or need a conversion?
We say that developers who know Qt may well develop normally for BlackBerry. Regarding the conversion ... We support Android applications with a minimum of not even porting, but repacking. That is, you just need to take the Android application and repack it with another extension. There are some restrictions, for example, Android 2.3.3 is supported, and there is a reservation that a certain amount of API is not supported, that is, not all of them are supported automatically. But for this, we have a code verification tool to see how compatible the applications will be. API restrictions are actually small. AppWorld already has some apps ported from Android.
How many developers are currently developing on the RIM platform in Russia?
In Russia? We are seeing a very serious increase in registered developers, that is, people who came with their applications. And the number of applications on the PlayBook has increased by 70% over the past three months. Probably, this is partly due to the fact that we made an Android player in which you can convert applications, and partly with the fact that we announced the BlackBerry 10 platform, saying that everything that is currently working on the PlayBook will work on BlackBerry ten.
Today we have three platforms: the existing platform for BlackBerry 4.6-7 smartphones, the platform for PlayBook 2.1.0 tablets, and the future universal platform, BlackBerry 10. BlackBerry 10 is based on the PlayBook. When BlackBerry 10 is ready, the PlayBook can be upgraded to a new version. Old applications and old devices, unfortunately, will not be able to upgrade.
Will the old applications in BlackBerry 10 work?
No automatic, they will need to be redone.
If now the developer thinks, “on what platform to develop?”, Then we can recommend to develop on HTML5, because everything will work in the browser on all three platforms.
HTML5 offers many different tools and opportunities for developers. For example, WebWorks is an add-on that allows you not only to create online applications in a browser or website, but to create applications that can be downloaded to application stores, sent to AppWorld.
In May, there was an announcement that if the application gained sales of $ 1,000, then RIM will pay up to $ 10,000, will this work in Russia?
Yes, it was announced, the condition - the application must be registered and certified. It was for everyone without restrictions, including for Russia.
Is today's event in Moscow, are these evangelical speeches or practical examples?
In fact, both. We are creating a department of evangelical developers who will do this and now there are already a few people - they are now traveling the world with these BlackBerry 10 Tour Jam seminars.
There was a plenary session at the conference, where they talked about BlackBerry 10, about our platform, and then there were 8 master classes, where our evangelical developers at the same time talked about two approaches to development on BB10: Native and Web. The program, by the way, can be found at http://www.blackberryjamworldtour.com/moscow/agenda .
We do not just speak, but also show. We listen to what developers are asking for. They expressed the need for adequate development tools - we did. We provide them with devices, prototypes on which they can test their applications, see how they work. And, interestingly, this prototype can be upgraded to the following firmware.
One of the main problems of Android is its terrible fragmentation. How many devices will you have, is there any risk of fragmentation of the BlackBerry 10 platform?
I cannot say that we will have one device for the next 5 years. Generally speaking, one cannot do without a certain level of fragmentation. But we are trying to show developers a clear roadmap of device development and update policies. We know that this is a sore point for developers.
The only thing I can say about the keyboards. We are doing the best in the industry mechanical keyboard, it is generally recognized, and we are going to continue to make them in the future. Now our first device with the BlackBerry 10, we are trying to transfer our experience in typing and on the virtual keyboard, we have implemented the technique of predicting and recognizing the way people type, a special technology. But many people ask - will there be a device with a qwerty keyboard? Our CEO said he would. This is the only thing I can confirm. When and how the device will look like, I do not know.
One of the things we do with text input is the text input system with one finger. For example, print the first word, and then the system will prompt the words that you usually use next.
And the tablets in which direction will develop? Will tablets have a physical keyboard?
We will seriously develop tablets as a direction. The tablet is one of the proven formats. What they will be ...
Speaking of the keyboard, we recently released a separate keyboard for the PlayBook. It looks about the same, only twice as thin and connects via Bluetooth.
There will be new screens, new processors, we are considering various options. Now, for example, we have three PlayBook 16, 32 and 64 GB, while they only Wi-Fi. But we will have a PlayBook with 3G. Now I can’t say anything concrete.
How do you position your PlayBook?
We position our tablet as a professional device. This is partly due to the fact that QNX is used in industrial and even military systems, in space ships, bridges are raised in St. Petersburg - the Trinity Bridge, for example, works on QNX. But still very important is that QNX, as an operating system, today operates in 20 million vehicles worldwide, that is, QNX is a very well-known supplier for on-board computers, for multimedia systems in all leading vehicles. All German, American mass, etc. running on QNX.
One of our directions in the future is the creation of a single OS, not only for smartphones and tablets, but also a global mobile platform that will be extended to other areas. And cars are the future that will come soon. Now, for example, operators offer "Smart Home", which can be controlled from the Network. We believe that having QNX, having expertise in mobile technology and having our RIM infrastructure (separate secure channels from operators for BlackBerry traffic around the world), we have a very good foundation for creating a unified future technology. And we are actively working in this direction.
Maybe you saw, we announced the Porsche car, completely created on QNX-technologies. You sit in the car, put the phone on the panel and it connects to the car through NFC and you immediately read your mail, see your messages on the screen, you can control the rear seat screens for children, TV ... We showed it to BlackBerry World, it was ours wow factor.
QNX will open as Android? Will there be any Open Source modifications?
QNX today exists as a real-time embedded operating system, which is used to automate workshops, hydroelectric power plants, in a military woman. This branch will continue as it is. Plus, we are using the QNX kernel to make an operating system that is as convenient as possible for developers to develop. But it is unlikely to be open.
Initially, BlackBerry devices were focused on the business environment, now they are partially or completely reoriented to users. What is the development strategy in this direction?
Historically, BlackBerry has been used by business users, and this reputation is still preserved in Russia and in the world. In fact, several years ago, we began to expand strategically on users and on retail, on ordinary consumers. It so happened that out of 78 million users, about half of business users and we among the mobile platforms are leaders in the corporate market. We are going to continue to focus on business users and at the same time pay attention to consumer applications, the consumer market. For example, in BlackBerry 10 there will be a very serious functionality and software for working with content. You can watch videos, you can download videos, you can edit videos online — and such things are revolutionary. We understand the tendency to use our own devices at work, when people are not ready to work at work with one device, but to come home with another. And so BlackBerry 10 will be both a business device and a device for consumers - it will have high-quality multimedia, it will have very good social networks.
We use the maximum of one of the advantages of QNX - its multitasking, and the real multitasking. For example, on the PlayBook today you can run several applications, minimize them and see that a toy is playing in one, a video is spinning in another, and so on. Already today, you can turn on the PlayBook video, bring it up via the HDMI connector to the plasma and leave it to play, and continue to do other things on the tablet itself. That is all in real time. This is one of the chips, one of the features of QNX, which we will further develop in BlackBerry 10.
In fact, in BlackBerry 10 there will be no separation between applications, there will be no difference between the applications from which you came out or into which you entered.
The difference between running and not running the application will not be? Will they all react instantly? In real time?
Yes, there will be no restrictions associated with sleeping applications in the background, when it freezes until you open it. This will be a real multi-tasking, enhanced technology QNX.
By the way, QNX is a very interesting product, which was created 30 years ago. They told me that in Russia, in fact, it has been actively used for 10 years or even more in industry, in the oil industry, in the military industrial complex. I was told the story that oil companies come to the QNX distributor in Russia and they say that we need a system that will manage our oil platform, which is located in the taiga 300 km from the base, it must be super-reliable. If something happens, then you need to call a helicopter and it will cost us very much. We must make it just work like a clock. And so they use QNX.
We transfer this industrial technology to mobile products. We believe that connecting this kernel with high-quality tools for developers and with a new shell, which we also developed, allows us to create a unique system.
Blackberry Cascades?
Yes, Blackberry Cascades is our new graphical environment, which allows developers to create visually very high-quality applications without drawing all the graphic elements, but simply using some of the tools through the API. This is a regular BlackBerry 10 interface and developers can create their beautiful applications in a few lines of code.The application will work and respond to user actions also in real time, without delays and brakes.
When will the system come out?
BlackBerry 10 will be released before the end of calendar 2012.
How much will the device cost?
I unfortunately do not know this, nobody knows yet.
I already think the last question: your assessment of the current situation with mobile platforms? We recently published news from IDC that by 2016 the BlackBerry platform will be in 3rd place on a par with the iPhone and behind Android and Windows Phone in market share. How do you rate it?
It is very difficult to predict what will happen in the future. We know that we have a quality product, we have a quality platform. We have a mission in which we believe and which we implement methodically and consistently. And we continue to believe in it looking at the growing number of developers who register in the store, who come to our seminars. We see that people are interested, that developers appreciate the opportunity and potential, that they can use their skills, that they do not need to learn anything. They appreciate the openness of the platform and the possibility of monetization, high-quality distribution in the face of the app store. The mobile market is very competitive. Everything is changing very quickly and what will be difficult for me to judge in two years, the future has not yet been determined.
But I like this update period, the new system. We switch to it using our existing advantages, such as data security and security, reliability of data transmission, and infrastructure reliability. And we bring a lot of new things into it - video, interfaces, new paradigms. We create a brand new product. And we are ready to conquer the world with him again.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/146561/
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