20% Of All Blackberry 10 Apps Are Android Ports
Blackberry had just announced last week that the Blackberry App World had finally reached its 100,000 app milestone. The Blackberry App World had grown rapidly in size thanks to Blackberry's intense campaign to get developers to create apps for its platform. One of those campaigns involved a port-a-thon that allowed developers to port their apps from Android straight to Blackberry.
The event was a huge success. How successful? Over 20,000 Android apps were successfully ported to the Blackberry 10 App World. That's 20% of all the apps available in the Blackberry ecosystem. Martyn Mallick, Vice President for Global Alliances and Business Development for Blackberry, stated that porting Android apps to Blackberry 10 was a great way to increase Blackberry's app data base. He said, "Our users deserve to have great content. If that is the fastest way we can get some of that content, that's great."
While it does have many big name companies bringing apps to its platform, there are still two companies that are holding out. Both Instagram and Netflix stated that they had no intentions of bringing their apps to Blackberry 10. Netflix is speculated to be holding out because it doesn't see enough incentive in developing for the platform. Mallick stated, "There are some partners where their priorities are elsewhere, not even necessarily in mobile."
However, despite those two declining to help Blackberry, Mallick is still optimistic about the Blackberry App World. He stated that many developers only intended to port their apps to Blackberry and that was it. But eventually, developers started developing native apps for Blackberry 10 devices. A lot of them are adding Blackberry 10-specific features, like Amazon with its Kindle port.
Mallick also assures developers that they don't have to worry about fragmentation, because the first set of Blackberry 10 devices will have one of two screen sizes. Developers are still a bit wary about the Blackberry Z10's slow sales, however, Mallick, like many others, stated that the Blackberry Z10 just needs some more time to get its foot off the ground. If you've been considering buying a Blackberry Z10, check out our hands-on review for the device here.
[via All Things D]