BlackBerry Developers know that we are committed to supporting open standards and open source tools. If you need proof, just look to the thousands of native, WebWorks, Android and Adobe Air apps for BlackBerry 10 in BlackBerry world.
Our goal is to continue improving and updating these tools to ensure that both developers and consumers enjoy a seamless BlackBerry 10 experience. With that in mind, let’s talk about a recent update to the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Applications in 10.2.1 that was announced earlier this week.
Developers can download the new BlackBerry 10.2.1 release today. This update further realizes our goals to make the Android runtime as compatible as possible. New features like Jelly Bean support, plus support for Android Native, Accessibility, Bluetooth, MapView v1, Share Framework, Spellcheck and Wi-Fi Scanning were covered by Matt Whiteman in previous posts and enable app developers that rely on Android native APIs to port their offering to the BlackBerry Platform with minimal barriers.
Along with this update .APK files can now be installed over the air on BlackBerry 10 without the need to repackage files into a .BAR. This allows for more streamlined testing of your Android applications on the BlackBerry platform. Simply install your existing .APK onto a BlackBerry 10 device and if it runs to your liking, repackage it and submit it to BlackBerry World!
BlackBerry World is the first place that millions of customers go to find trusted applications. You’ll be able to tap into BlackBerry Payment Services, automatically push your latest updates to users, read customer reviews, and take advantage of discoverability and other exclusive marketing opportunities to optimize for success.
Simply put, BlackBerry World is where your app belongs.
You’ve been asking us to bring support for JNI, Jelly Bean, and essential APIs such MapView, Share Framework, Spellcheck and Bluetooth to the platform, and with this update, we’ve done that − and we’ve simplified testing.
With all of these new enhancements, we hope to have made your job as a developer that much easier, while providing the tools for you to easily open up your applications to an entirely new market of customers on BlackBerry.
