COMMENTARY | RIM, the company that makes the BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, has a problem. That problem would be $485 million worth of unsold BlackBerry PlayBooks. People aren't buying them, opting for the iPad and inexpensive e-reader tablets instead. And while long-promised features, like a native email client (which doesn't need you to hook it up to a BlackBerry smartphone) and the ability to run Android apps are coming in an OS upgrade this month, it remains to be seen whether or not that'll have any effect on sales.
With all those PlayBooks laying around, you might expect RIM to start offering them at steep discounts. And you'd be right; its price has been slashed to $299 and even $199 for days at a time, putting it down in Nook Color territory.
Now, the company's taking things a step further: RIM's giving away free PlayBooks to all comers. And the reason for this is tied to those Android apps they'll be able to run.
What do Android apps have to do with free PlayBooks?
See, the promotion started as a way to lure Android developers over. Write an Android app for RIM, get a free PlayBook tablet, of the 16 GB variety. Or if you've already written an app, you can just port it over to the PlayBook, using RIM's "packaging" tools and removing all references to Android and the Android Market from your app.
But I'm not an Android developer. How do I get one?
First off, the promo's been extended. You have to sign up for a BlackBerry App World account by the end of the day on February 15, but you then have until March 2 to actually write the app. It doesn't have to be an Android app, either; if you've messed around with web programming before, an HTML 5 or Adobe Air app will do. Same goes for games written in C or C++. RIM's opened this promo to everybody.
Let me rephrase that: I'm not a developer, period. Can I still do this?
Ask the people at Andromo. They're offering a free service to let you make Android apps without writing any programming code, and they've got a tutorial that'll walk you through it. The apps are paid for by ads, and you share the money from them with Andromo.
Do you have a website? Make an app that lets people browse its contents conveniently. Or create a photo gallery or musical slideshow, using pictures and music in the public domain. (I'd say use Creative Commons works from Flickr and Jamendo, but you'll need to check the licenses to make sure that they're compatible with a product you'll make money from.)
Another alternative for code-free app building would've been Google's App Inventor, even if packaging would've required a few extra steps. Sadly, Google has taken it offline, and while MIT's using the open-source code for its classes the public version isn't available yet.
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