Developers who have been waiting to perfect their app before submitting it for the BlackBerry Super Apps Developer Challenge better get cracking. There is less than a week left to the challenge and RIM is reporting that submissions are looking good. Mike put up a nice post on the developer blog detailing some general feedback for developers to consider:
- Leverage push notifications to engage your user by keeping them informed on new events and information
- Look for ways to complete a task in the least number of steps
- Have your application do the heavy lifting by running in the background, pulling down critical data to update the user as appropriate
- Leverage GPS data to understand a userโs current location and deliver relevant data
- Allow the user to share and recommend your application to friends via PIN, SMS or email
I agree with all the feedback Mike pointed out but I think it all boils down to the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) mantra. Make an app that does something useful and make it intuitive so that it is simple to use and integrate into a users day to day activities. I am hoping RIM throws a curveball into the challenge by releasing a version of Viigo for BlackBerry 6 that has full sync with Google Reader. ๐
Good luck to all the developers entering the challenge! May the best app win!