Getting Started With BlackBerry App Development

Getting Started With BlackBerry App Development
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BlackBerry App Development

BlackBerry smartphones have become so popular over the past couple of years that almost everywhere you look someone is holding a different model either talking, texting, sending a BBM, writing an email or browsing the Internet. BlackBerry smartphones are so popular because they offer thousands of different applications for users to download either for free or for a one-time fee.

These applications include news, sports, weather, games, finance and much more. Believe it or not, any person wishing to create an application for the RIM BlackBerry smartphone can do so.

If you have an excellent idea for a new application then follow the steps outlined in this article and you will be able to work on a BlackBerry app development of your own.

Java Development Kit Needed

Before you begin working on the physical application, you might have drawings and sketches already, you will need to download the latest version of the Java Development Kit. This kit allows you to construct the application of your imagination, as almost all applications on BlackBerry smartphones use Java to operate properly. The next step is to download Eclipse, which is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), that helps simplify programming an application in the Java program.

This usually has to be downloaded separately but BlackBerry has realized how popular personal application creation has become that they have created a plug-in that works directly with Eclipse.

You can find this plug-in at na.blackberry.com/eng/developers.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

BlackBerry Tutorial

Once the previous steps are performed you can download and read the BlackBerry tutorial about creating an application for their smartphones. The file is a PDF and it can be found at na.blackberry.com. This file will provide you with different coding and information that will need to be types into the browser when working on creating the application. BlackBerry app development is difficult for some and extremely easy for others. It all depends on how one understands coding, the Internet, and submitting this information.

All of your applications can be created on your laptop or personal computer. You must submit them to the BlackBerry App World upon completion if you wish to sell them to the public. You will also need to send BlackBerry $200, which gives you the right to sell 10 different applications in their App World. Should you construct 10 more applications you will need to pay them another $200. This might seem like a lot of money right now but you can charge a download fee for your application, which you get to keep 80 percent of each sale.

Make sure you test out your application on various platforms prior to submitting it to the BlackBerry App World to make sure that it works.

References:

https://na.blackberry.com/developers/resources/A10_Writing_Your_First_Application_V5.pdf