What Google Is Doing Right With Android
I was just reading a post on the official Google Mobile blog about Androids first 5 months of existence. Some of these things are stuff RIM should have been doing ages ago. Also note by the way the fact that RIM does not even have an official blog beyond press releases that come days after the news. I guess RIM is not embracing the Social Networking revolution as much as they think they are.
The first thing Android did was release an early look at the Android software development kit (SDK), allowing anyone to learn and start creating apps for the platform. RIM might do this for a developer if they are paying them tons of money. Otherwise they are on their own to wait for the public release.
Feedback from developers has contributed to numerous fixes, improvements, new tools, and major updates to the SDK. Other than the horrible developer forum there is no real way for developers to contribute feedback. Unless you happen to know somebody at RIM or have a support contract your up the proverbial creek. This is especially true with small developers. Even large developers such as Viigo have been waiting months for fixes as simple as allowing them to use the spacebar to go down a page in RSS articles.
Google also setup the Android Developer Challenge, which setup $10 million in prizes for the best Android applications. Is RIM not getting it? All the other major mobile OS platforms have done these challenges and have been met with great success. What are they waiting for???
Feel free to correct me (or even agree with me) in the comments 
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April 4th, 2008 09:06
Viigo developers have been waiting for fixes to use the spacebar to go down a page in RSS articles? How come so many programs achieve that???
April 6th, 2008 12:35
Luc it is because Viigo decided to use the native RIM call for the browser to show articles. That native browser does not support using the spacebar to go down a page. Real screwy.
April 15th, 2008 04:24
Google has launched the Android Developer Challenge, which will provide $10 million in awards — no strings attached — for great mobile apps built on the Android platform.
May 12th, 2008 01:00
[...] With all the other mobile operating systems offering capital for mobile developers it is surprising that it took RIM so long to get with the program. They have just (sort of) announced a fund of $150 million dollars for BlackBerry development. The fund will officially be announced at WES this week. This fund trumps Apple’s $100 million fund and the $10 million Google Android Fund. I guess RIM is really committed to finally listening to their developers and encouraging new interest in the platform. We recently mentioned the fact that RIM should have been doing this years ago. [...]