RIM releases gold build of its BlackBerry 10 SDK

Imagine a big check list on a white board somewhere in RIM's Waterloo HQ in Canada. Every time the manufacturer accomplishes something that brings it closer to the January 30th release of BlackBerry 10, CEO Thorsten Heins takes a marker and draws a line across the specific task that is now done with. If this little scenario was real, Heins would have crossed off another task on Tuesday as the gold version of the BlackBerry 10 SDK tool kit is now available to be downloaded by developers.

The BB10 SDK tool kit has gone gold

Developers now have access to the final APIs as they write apps and RIM's presser cites a survey as showing that 58% would recommend BB10 as a development platform, a 123% increase from May to October. RIM reminds code jockeys that they can use Cascades to build "visually stunning applications" that offer deep integration to other BlackBerry features such as BlackBerry Hub.Those writing with HTML5 can use BlackBerry WebWorks to write apps that offer native-like performance and deep integration with core features.

At the recent BlackBerry Jam Asia conference, the company displayed over 70 new apps including ones from Fox Sports and MTV. RIM doesn't expect to offer 700,000 apps for BlackBerry 10 at launch and immediately compete with the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. CEO Heins has already said that when it comes to app stores, size doesn't matter. RIM's game plan is to have the top 200 to 400 appsavailable for each country and each region. But will that be enough to satisfy smartphone buyers who are accustomed to choosing from hundreds of thousands of apps, even if many are useless?

source: RIM