Research in Motion (RIM) has announced a series of tool updates for application developers, which will assist them with current and future projects.
The technology firm behind the BlackBerry range of smartphones and tablets will include Native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook, as well as WebWorks for all BlackBerry devices, it announced at BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 this week.
A developer beta of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will also provide support for Android applications running on the BlackBerry platform.
According to Mike Lazardis, president and co-chief executive officer at RIM, nearly five million BlackBerry apps are downloaded on a daily basis.
He said: "Our customers have made BlackBerry one of the most profitable platforms for developers.
"At DevCon today, we're giving developers the tools they need to build richer applications and we're providing direction on how to best develop their smartphone and tablet apps as the BlackBerry and QNX platforms converge into our next-generation BBX platform."
BBX was the other major news to come out of the Blackberry event. The new next-generation platform will unify BlackBerry smartphones and tablets, with a particular focus on the brand's signature real-time mobile experiences.
One of the most exciting things about the new platform in terms of web application development is BBX's so-called "Super App" capabilities, which will help to ensure better integration between apps, the BBM social platform and Push services.
BBX-OS - the new operating system for the BBX platform - will offer support for development environments and BlackBerry cloud services for native and HTML 5 developers.
In addition, RIM highlighted that BBX will support any applications that have been previously developed using BlackBerry PlayBook tools, including Adobe AIR/Flash, Native SDK and WebWorks/HTML 5 so they can be used on future smartphones and tablets with BBX.
Furthermore, with the immediate availability of the Native SDK for the BlackBerry Playbook, web application developers will be able to create more advanced apps, as well as 2D and 3D games.
This also includes access to code management systems via Eclipse CDT, as well as support for touchscreen inputs and gesture swipes, as well as for C/C++ POSIX library and compliance. A future release for Native SDK will feature the new BlackBerry Cascades, which was also previewed at DevCon.
The new announcements follow fresh criticism from RIM, which received some bad press earlier this month due to widespread service interruptions affecting its customers around the world.
In an effort to make amends, subscribers will be able to access more than US$100 worth of premium apps in the coming weeks on BlackBerry App World, which will be available until the end of the year.
RIM will also offer a month of free technical support to its enterprise customers following the disruption.