Do you really need 65,000+ apps to get you to buy a smartphone or a tablet? One thing that some people who choose to just ignore or dismiss the potential of other devices that are not iPad argue that because of the lack of apps these new devices are doomed to fail. But do you really need all those apps to choose from? When the iPad first launched it did not have that many applications available. Based on my own experience I don’t need that many. I have quite a few apps on my BlackBerry but not all of them get used. Some apps are essential I use them on day-to-day basis but I would say 80 percent of the apps on my device do not get used much; I use them occasionally when I need them but I could probably do without.
Some of my most used apps include the browser, Twitter apps, screenshot apps, e-mail all the time, CNN money, word press, clock app, and definitely BBM. As you can see from the list most of those are native BlackBerry apps. I feel that the more apps the more cluttered it is and the harder it is to find a good quality apps especially if you have to pay for them you may be spending on something you may use once or twice. Don’t get me wrong am one of the first to try out new apps but if I don’t see a use for them they get deleted. I am for developer making good apps and getting paid for their hard work.
It would be close minded to say all these new tablets don’t have potential and dismissing them and it would be pointless if we were to say the PlayBook will climb to the top before the battle is fought. We know what the choices are out there and each person has a choice. Ronen pointed out some in a previous article why he thinks the PlayBook is the best.
Now that the iPad 2, an array of different android, and windows based tablets are scheduled to hit the market in the next few month sites will be filled with different comparison. The tablet war is heating up and those first to Market will likely have a better chance on grabbing a good chunk of market share. The iPad of course has a huge lead on most of them and I do believe RIM should had at least launched an ad campaign with an official release date instead of waiting for the others to overshadow it. News and radio shows all they talk about is Apple products specially because Apple has become a household name. RIM needs that kind of market recognition to compete since the market has too many options these days and customers don’t necessarily care about security they like that new flashy device on the shelve.
The PlayBook will have probably the best browser in any mobile device out there which includes native flash and full web experience. Ronen also mentioned that The PlayBook will allow you to have the full web at your fingertips and yes you will still need apps to get certain things done. I believe that a good device should be one that can do and deliver dependable functionality out of the box and not have to depend on apps to make it or break it. Apps should be an added plus to allow you to increase productivity based on what you needs. So any tablet whether it be the PlayBook, Android based or iPad they will always need apps, is a combination of both things. The PC and Macs both depend on programs that make it all work so the same can be said about tablets . This is where the PlayBook will have an advantage the fact that it will have a full web browser and a decent amount of applications at launch. Once the device is in the market the apps will come so there is not reason why the PlayBook should be discarded just because it will not have hundreds of apps at launch.
I think that once people have had a chance to test the capabilities of the device they will start building apps that are needed and eventually build up the number of apps. It is premature to say the device is doomed just because the apps aren’t there yet and there is no telling how many apps are already submitted to RIM so we may get a good surprise once the device launches. I know there’s quite a few points to my post but what are your thoughts?
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