Android Game Ported by a Developer to Blackberry Playbook – Witnesses 25 Times More Downloads

By Thea Neuman (Google)

RIM certainly does understand this fact very well that making a dent in the app world of Apple and Google play market is no cakewalk.

There is no denial to the fact that at this particular point of time, every single success does matter for RIM. Looking at the growing popularity of apps and growing inclination of users towards apps, RIM must be in an ecstatic mood regarding the new success which came its way. This is really a commendable thing that instead of giving up, RIM is determined to thrive in intense competitive world and is making an effort to instigate developers of Android to port their apps to Blackberry Playbook so that quantity of apps can be increased.

RIM created an Android app player for its Playbook tablet sometime back but unfortunately during its initial phase, developers didn’t show much interest. Bill Larocque (developer from Pinelake Communications) who designed Cubifice (an Android game) decided to explore this opportunity along with his colleague, by porting his game ‘Cubifice’ to the Playbook and also to Playbook 10 alpha device. His eyes were out on stalks when he found out 25 times extra downloads on BB App World in comparison to Android and another interesting and worth mentioning point about this new experiment is that this entire download didn’t take more than an hour!

Larocque revealed during an interview that the degree of exposure is far better on BB App World in comparison to any other platforms, which are flooded with large number of apps. He also praised BB App World for designing a much better and lucid layout and said that the App World of Blackberry is entirely free from the drawback of over-saturation.

He further added that porting his game to the Playbook didn’t only result in 25 times extra downloads on BB App World than on Android, but he was also capable of retaining high numbers because of better exposure on this platform. In monetary terms also, after the app gets monetized, this will lead to more revenues generation and he will have to shell out less on promoting the app.

To sum up, he opined that due to the absence of competition on BB App World, a developer can get better visibility and it’s comparatively easier to grab a leading spot hence there are more chances to obtain multi-fold benefits on Blackberry App World.

This is indeed a delighting piece of news for RIM because after the success of Larocque’s efforts, more developers may get interested in bringing their apps to next-gen BB 10 platform, which seems only a matter of time. However it is pointless to say that, this factor will certainly play a crucial role in the success of RIM’s forthcoming much-discussed BB 10 platform.

Considering the fact that Blackberry Playbook tablet end-users and critics began squawking about that new BB Playbook tablet, which couldn’t live up-to the RIM’s expectations, this recent success may yield altogether a new lease of life for Blackberry Playbook tablet.