RIM updates BlackBerry PlayBook SDK for WebWorks apps
updated 03:20 pm EDT, Thu June 23, 2011
New APIs make for better linkage to Webwork apps
Research In Motion (RIM) has introduced a new version of its WebWorks SDK for tablets. The company has also updated its SDK for Adobe Air application developers. With the new 2.1 update of the Webworks SDK, RIM has added several APIs to its developers' tools. An In App Payment Services API lets vendors sell apps directly from BlackBerry PlayBook apps written with the code. New camera and microphone apps similarly give apps the option of recording imagery and audio.
WebWorks is RIM’s open source, mobile web platform that can be used used to build applications for its smartphones or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.
Sales of RIM's Playbook tablet have been disappointing. The company has dropped its forecast by 50 percent. Part of the problem is that the Playbook lags behind Android and iOS for the number of apps available to users. Leading developers have expressed frustration that usual development is unnecessarily complex and costly to generate code.
The new SDK is one of the ways that RIM is trying to make things easier for developers. RIM is also trying to attract new app writing by running a developers' challenge with over three million dollars in prize money.
