Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) rolled out the third beta release of its BlackBerry Native SDK 2.0 for Tablet OS, delivering new tooling enhancements, API improvements and documentation updates.
Highlights of the latest SDK release include a new Add Library Wizard promising to simplify the process of adding library dependencies to a project, alongside improved Deployment Setup Wizard navigation and workflow as well as enhancements to the BAR file editor to view localized manifests for each locale. RIM is also including Scoreloop social gaming APIs, a new "Hello Native SDK" tutorial to walk developers through the OpenGL ES 1.1 Application Project template that comes with the QNX Momentics IDE and a "Displaying a dialog" recipe offering instructions on how to display dialogs on the screen and handle dialog events.
"As we make our way towards BlackBerry DevCon Europe, we'll be continuing to evolve our online content to help those using our Native SDK port their existing cross platform C/C++ applications to the BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 OS as well as ensure that all developers using each of our development options can be successful on the totally awesome update coming to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet," writes BlackBerry WebWorks development manager Tim Neil on the Inside BlackBerry Developer's Blog.
RIM issued BlackBerry Native SDK 2.0 for Tablet OS beta 3 late last week, days before the beleaguered device maker announced longtime co-CEOs and co-chairmen Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis would step down. Thorsten Heins, who joined RIM four years ago as COO, will become CEO and director Barbara Stymiest will become chairman. Lazaridis will remain with the company as vice chairman and Balsillie will remain a board member.
Balsillie and Lazaridis were instrumental in developing the BlackBerry platform but came under fire for failing to respond to the demands of the fast-changing mobile ecosystem. Once the top dog in the U.S. smartphone segment, BlackBerry generated just 6 percent of smartphone sales nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2011 according to data published last week by Nielsen. Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android powered 51.7 percent of U.S. smartphone sales during the fourth quarter period, followed by Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS at 37.0 percent.
For more:
- read this the Inside BlackBerry Developer's Blog entry
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