Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) in its efforts to make a comeback after losing the smartphone market share to Apple and Google’s Android, has now vowed to woo Africa’s local developers into using its platforms.
RIM last week Friday hosted a forum for developers of its BlackBerry 10 operating system at the Ole Sereni Hotel in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
The events, which were previously in cities across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific and now in Africa, was targeted at Kenyan developers to enable then join the list of partners around the world who create apps for the new BlackBerry platform.
Christened BlackBerry 10 Mini jam, it was aimed at providing information on its experience architecture and tools. The event attracted more than 50 local apps developers.
The BlackBerry 10 developer toolkit includes the BlackBerry 10 Native SDK with features that make it possible for developers using C/C++ to create graphically rich, high performance native applications.
In addition, it has a rich set of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that give developers access to a range of BlackBerry application services such as push and payment services.
The company also show-cased iAfya, a freely downloadable app that allows users to quickly and easily find complete and trusted health information and resources at their fingertips from any location it is made available.
BlackBerry 10 had the developers have a different feel of experience by creating open platforms to allow developers to add weight to their range of existing skills at the same time simplifying the development process by adding powerful new tools.
RIM said its BlackBerry platform already provides great opportunities for the developers in Kenya adding that there is high demand for more tools and knowledge to create local services and applications but also a strong desire to reach the global blackberry audience.
