Developers can now create web-based applications for BlackBerry smartphones, the latest BlackBerry Widget Software Development Kit by RIM has now made it possible. Third party application developers can now develop rich, integrated applications for BlackBerry smartphones using common web technologies.
BlackBerry Widget employs the BlackBerry Browser engine to render an application’s user interface using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Further, they can use existing web content to build BlackBerry Widgets and explore the capabilities of web applications using BlackBerry Widget APIs.
“BlackBerry Widgets open up a world of opportunities fordevelopers to build and bring to market web applications for BlackBerry smartphones that offer advanced, integrated functionality and an always-on user experience. We are very excited by the prospects of this new widget development platform which combines the ease of development of standard web languages with the rich functionality of Java development,” remarked Alan Brenner, senior vice president, BlackBerry platforms at RIM.
The latest BlackBerry Widget APIs enable developers to create seamless interaction between a widget and BlackBerry email, calendar applications, create widgets to view or edit files and documents stored on the smartphone, access location-based services or the media player and more. Further, developers can avail RIM’s innovative push technology, permitting dynamic widgets to run in the background and presents proactive alerts to users appropriately. BlackBerry Widgets will be available on BlackBerry smartphones that are driven by OS 5.0.
BlackBerry Widgets can be easily distributed via BlackBerry App World or by means of BlackBerry Enterprise Server in corporate environments. A beta release of the BlackBerry Widget SDK is now available. Developers interested in learning BlackBerry Widgets creation can attend the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference November 9-12, 2009 in San Francisco.