Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology.
When Apple introduced the iPad , it had but a smattering of third-party applications, however the company stressed its own. As Apple iPhone software SVP Scott Forstall stated within the iPad introduction video, “We checked out the device and we decided: let’s redesign all of it. Let’s redesign, reimagine and rebuild each app from the bottom up specifically for the iPad.”
Compare this to the tactic employed by RIM, makers of the approaching BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Three hundred and sixty five days after the iPad’s debut, Apple’s head start in apps has proven an formidable advantage against the onslaught of slates announced by its competitors within the smartphone world. Some have chosen to latch onto Android and accomplish backwards compatibility with over 200,000 existing smartphone apps. HP, with its TouchPad as flagship, will circle its wagons of PCs, printers and phones across the webOS platform. However, the announcement this week that RIM, too, will support Android apps says much about how the corporate sees its position within the tablet wars.
C and C++ are the native routes to app development on RIM’s long-gestated tablet, but they on no account the sole ways. Flash / Adobe AIR and HTML5 can be supported as will several popular game engines. Android and Java apps could be accommodated with add-on players and distributed via RIM’s App World, RIM’s app marketplace. The power to run Android apps without the underlying Android operating system certainly helps bring a point of cachet in addition to functionality. At a discussion with an executive from a downmarket carrier on the CTIA Wireless show in Orlando last week, I asked what customers are requesting as they adopt smartphones. His response: “Android. Android is the logo. They need the apps.”
But support of Android may also has some potential downsides. With the BlackBerry OS platform generally taking a backseat to other smartphone platforms and a big platform shift to QNX inside the works, Android support could function a sideshow that offers Android developers even less reason to natively support the platform. Android apps also are unlikely to milk the PlayBook hardware and user interface, either one of that have generated consumer excitement on their lonesome merits. Contrast this with Apple’s try to optimize the iOS app experience to the purpose where it sought to block third-party development tools simply by concern about cross-platform apps that could pander to the bottom common denominator.
Controlling the software platform will not be as vital to RIM because it is to Apple or others, however it’s still a vital priority within which RIM is heavily investing. RIM’s challenge might be weaving the PlayBook’s hodgepodge of sources right into a tapestry of engaging functionality. Apple may prioritize a consistently crafted experience but RIM is ready delivering what works to encourage adoption and development. The secret is ensuring that Android apps remain kind of an option of last resort, while the corporate can build the case for QNX apps that showcase and differentiate the PlayBook from competitors within the tablet market — and to assist the corporate make a case for a similar operating system to power future smartphones.
Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group . Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
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