RIM Unveils BlackBerry 10 Developer Toolkits

Blackberry

BlackBerry maker RIM (Research In Motion) has released its developer toolkit for the BlackBerry 10 platform. Following a year of unrelenting bad news, the new platform offers some hope for the ailing handset manufacturer.

Two new sets of APIs are part of the toolkit - an 'Invocation Framework', to allow BlackBerry 10 apps to interact with each other; and 'Push APIs' that let developers use BlackBerry's infrastructure to send notifications and other content to BlackBerry 10 devices.

BlackBerry initially led the market in smartphones, but now lags considerably behins Apple's iOS and Google's Android platform. Its weakness in apps has been considered a key part of the brand's demise, and the new toolkit is part of RIM's strategy to reverse this trend.

Christopher Smith, vice president, handheld application platform & tools at RIM,says: "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."

The toolkit is accompanied by an update to BlackBerry App World, allowing developers to test and scrutinise each others apps. To drum-up developer interest, BlackBerry is running a series of international events under the Jam World Tour banner.

The toolkits are available in beta as free downloads here.