Telecom Lead America: BlackBerry smartphone maker
Research In Motion (RIM) has released updates to BlackBerry 10 developer
toolkits.
The toolkits are available in beta as free downloads from
developer.blackberry.com.
RIM has added new enhancements including two key sets of
APIs for BlackBerry 10 developers – an application invocation framework, which
will allow BlackBerry 10 applications to seamlessly interact with each other,
and the Push APIs that let developers leverage the BlackBerry infrastructure to
send notifications and other content to BlackBerry 10 devices.
“Developers have been making remarkable progress
with BlackBerry 10. We’ve seen amazing examples of apps from every category
being built for the BlackBerry 10 platform; often in just a matter of days.
This update provides enhancements to all four SDKs and introduces two key APIs
that allow developers to integrate their apps deeply into the core BlackBerry
10 experience, creating a seamless flow between apps for BlackBerry 10
customers,” said Christopher Smith, vice president, Handheld Application
Platform & Tools at Research In Motion.
RIM said the application invocation framework will give
developers the ability to tie their applications to native BlackBerry 10
features and to other applications, providing a seamless and flowing experience
for customers. Developers will also have access to a greater pool of sample
apps and examples in both native and HTML5 development.
New Push APIs will allow BlackBerry WebWorks and Adobe
AIR developers to leverage RIM’s unique push technology and infrastructure to
push content from their application servers directly to end users, enabling
instant access that engages and connects customers with their applications.
Meanwhile, RIM is opening the BlackBerry App World Vendor
Portal for BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha test devices. The portal will allow
developers to target the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha test device for applications,
allowing developers with BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha test devices to share and
access each other’s applications and see what their peers are doing with the
platform.
The BlackBerry 10 WebWorks SDK will support the
invocation framework and applications can also be registered as targets for
invocation by other apps. Web developers can also access new APIs for push,
swipe down events, and context menu.
BlackBerry WebWorks allows developers to use HTML5 and
CSS for building apps and provides JavaScript bindings to native device APIs
along with open source UI toolkits such as jQuery Mobile, Sencha and RIM’s own
bbUI.js, to create applications with native-like capabilities.