4 ms·

BB10 may be nice but the damn thing still lacks apps. There's no point having a great phone and great OS with no app coverage. At least three times now in the

BB10 may be nice but the damn thing still lacks apps. There's no point having a great phone and great OS with no app coverage. At least three times now in the past month someone has recommended an app to me an sure enough...no blackberry option. Android and iOS only. What I don't understand is why they don't force popular apps onto their platform. Even if no companies are jumping to develop for Blackberry, pay them to do it. Get them onto your platform with no cost on their end. Pay for ongoing support if necessary. App coverage is absolutely crucial and at this point, with BB10 being what it is, I'd say app coverage is now the #1 problem for their phones. They've gone pretty far down the crap slide now. Maybe they've given up.

HorizonXP 13y ago
They have tried to pay companies for apps, and they have in the past. It isn't enough. My company is an example, as are others.
- grannyg00se 13y ago
  You mean they try to pay companies to develop apps for their platform and the companies refuse? Why would that be? Can you provide details about what happened with your company?
  - HorizonXP 13y ago
    That's precisely what happens, and ultimately it's because there are other interests at play. I cannot divulge any more information.
  - sirkneeland 13y ago
    I don't know the exact situations behind HorizonXP's company and their refusal, but having worked in devrel on two minority platforms, I can share with you some common reasons: -[small companies] even if you bought them a developer, it would impede their ability to be agile and pivot and iterate as they try to find something that works. It's hard enough to get them to support Android in addition to iOS, but getting them to support WP or BB10 is even harder -[big companies] don't need the money. Or would ask for outrageous fees (some companies have asked for north of $20 million, even for faddish apps) -[big companies] have an existing solution to do cross-platform development for iOS and Android and it's not worth it to redo it to add WP/BB support -[small companies] complete lack of familiarity with the Microsoft stack. -pressure from Apple or Google (usually Apple). I've had cases where a company gets favorable placement in the app store or in a commercial, or placement on the demo devices in a retail store and planned Windows ports are put "on ice" because they don't want to jeopardize their relationship with Apple (which of course has reserved the right to be as capricious and arbitrary with its app policies as they like) -personal dislike. Believe it or not, some companies are run by people who just have a personal dislike of BlackBerry or Microsoft that is so strong that they'd rather spite them than add to their customer base. It's incredibly immature, but nothing we can do about it.
sirkneeland 13y ago
If it were possible to force an app into being with money and willpower, Instagram would be on Windows Phone.

HorizonXP 13y ago

They have tried to pay companies for apps, and they have in the past. It isn't enough. My company is an example, as are others.

grannyg00se 13y ago
You mean they try to pay companies to develop apps for their platform and the companies refuse? Why would that be? Can you provide details about what happened with your company?
- HorizonXP 13y ago
  That's precisely what happens, and ultimately it's because there are other interests at play. I cannot divulge any more information.
- sirkneeland 13y ago
  I don't know the exact situations behind HorizonXP's company and their refusal, but having worked in devrel on two minority platforms, I can share with you some common reasons: -[small companies] even if you bought them a developer, it would impede their ability to be agile and pivot and iterate as they try to find something that works. It's hard enough to get them to support Android in addition to iOS, but getting them to support WP or BB10 is even harder -[big companies] don't need the money. Or would ask for outrageous fees (some companies have asked for north of $20 million, even for faddish apps) -[big companies] have an existing solution to do cross-platform development for iOS and Android and it's not worth it to redo it to add WP/BB support -[small companies] complete lack of familiarity with the Microsoft stack. -pressure from Apple or Google (usually Apple). I've had cases where a company gets favorable placement in the app store or in a commercial, or placement on the demo devices in a retail store and planned Windows ports are put "on ice" because they don't want to jeopardize their relationship with Apple (which of course has reserved the right to be as capricious and arbitrary with its app policies as they like) -personal dislike. Believe it or not, some companies are run by people who just have a personal dislike of BlackBerry or Microsoft that is so strong that they'd rather spite them than add to their customer base. It's incredibly immature, but nothing we can do about it.

sirkneeland 13y ago

If it were possible to force an app into being with money and willpower, Instagram would be on Windows Phone.