Apple has led the way in turning a phone into an open computing platform in its introduction of the App Store with the second-generation iPhone.
More than 100m copies of applications and games were downloaded in the first 60 days of the store being opened, adding to the appeal of the handset and the iPod touch.
Google’s Android platform is following suit with its own set of apps and Research in Motion is playing catch-up with its first BlackBerry Developer Conference, which started today in Silicon Valley.
Curiously, Rim is not encouraging media to attend the event nor allowing photography or filming inside the conference. It is describing the event as “an intimate educational conference for developers.”
However, this has not stopped companies announcing ports of their popular iPhone applications to the Blackberry today.
Pageonce has launched a BlackBerry version of its accounts aggregator and the Associated Press now has a BlackBerry version of its excellent Mobile News Network available. In addition, a new version of Twitterberry, which makes short-message tweets easier, has been released.
Rim says it is not making any executives available to the media for interview at the conference, but the Tuesday keynote by Mike Lazaradis, president, should be available at www.blackberrydeveloperconference.com/webcasts.
