BlackBerry Developer Conference - Research In Motion today announced plans to introduce powerful new tools and technologies for web application developers to build highly-responsive, interactive, standalone web applications on BlackBerry smartphones. The new tools and technologies will include a new plug-in for Eclipse developers and new features for the BlackBerry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio that support web development capabilities; as well as support for Gears, enabling web applications to run as standalone applications on BlackBerry smartphones.
"As the BlackBerry Browser evolves to provide customers with a richer, more desktop-like experience, we are introducing powerful new web development tools and technologies to help developers create a more robust and optimal web experience for BlackBerry smartphone users," said Alan Brenner, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Platform at Research In Motion. "Supporting web technologies and services is part of our ongoing commitment to providing best-in-class tools and services for mobile application development on the BlackBerry platform."
New Developer Tools for Web Development, planned for availability in 2009, include a new plug-in for Eclipse developers and new features for the BlackBerry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio that support web development capabilities, enabling developers to create rich, dynamic BlackBerry applications that leverage the push capabilities, security and efficiency of the BlackBerry(R) platform. Developers will be able to build applications using HTML, JavaScript and XML that get packaged and executed as native Java applications on BlackBerry smartphones.
Gears Support, planned for availability in 2009, will enable developers to create highly-responsive, standalone web applications on BlackBerry smartphones that can be used both in and out of network coverage. Support for Gears will include local cache, database and multi-threaded JavaScript execution, which allows web application functions to run in the background.
RIM also separately announced the availability of BlackBerry Web Signals today, which leverages BlackBerry push APIs to enable content providers to push relevant and timely alerts to BlackBerry smartphone users based on a customer's opt-in preferences.
10-21-2008 -
