BlackBerry Jam sessions hitting SA in July

The sessions will provide new skills and offer developers access to the BlackBerry audience, and take place in Durban on July 15, Cape Town on July 16 and Johannesburg on July 18.

HumanIPO reported earlier this month a third BlackBerry app lab had been opened in Johannesburg – located at the JoziHub near the universities of Johannesburg and Witwatersrand – to accelerate mobile application development in South Africa.

The Jam sessions are open to all developers, but specifically those who are new to the BlackBerry 10 platform. They are intended to provide practical advice and tips for developers on the platform, with technical experts on hand to answer questions.

Prizes will also be up for grabs at each session, while at the end of the African and Middle East Tour judges from BlackBerry will award the developer of the best app a US$10,000 prize.

The BlackBerry Jam Session took place in Kenya in March, attended by more than 60 developers, who were required to come up with creative and innovative apps for the platform, with winners classified under the categories Best Social app and Best Business app.

“Salud” – Spanish for “eat healthy” – developed by Innorero University – won the Best Social app category. The app seeks to promote healthy eating by allowing users to look up detailed nutritional information of the food they are about to consume.

“My Police”, developed by University of Nairobi students, won the Best Business app. The app allows users to search for police information in a bid to reduce the rising cases of police imposters in the country. The app also allows citizens to report crime incidents to the nearest police station, as well as report complaints against the police.

The event organisers said the high turnout was an illustration of the high level of interest
amongst university students in creating apps for the BlackBerry platform in the Kenyan market.