The MIR PlayBook App Project: The journey begins

IMG 0043

I’ve decided it’s high time we had a PlayBook application for Mobile Industry Review. I’ve been deliberating on this issue for far too long. I’ve made noises. I’ve written occasional tweets, but now I’ve decided to do it.

I really do like the PlayBook. I love it. It’s the right size, it’s super-super powerful. I very much enjoy the user interface. But…

You know what’s coming next. Apps. The app experience isn’t quite there yet. It’s certainly getting there. I’m pretty impressed with the (unofficial) DropBox app, BlueBox. I’m delighted to see PressDisplay’s PressReader there. InstaPhoto is pretty neat. I just need to see more. I want to see more. The platform is hugely capable.

So I thought I should put my money where my mouth is by building a Mobile Industry Review app. Just a simple newsreader — like I did for the iPhone platform a few years ago. I hired a nice chap called Pavel to sort it out.

Now then, I spent a whopping $440 on that application. I’m wondering if I can do similar for the PlayBook. I don’t know if that’s possible though. I’m not sure what the going rate is. There’s a chance the average PlayBook developer wouldn’t code the front screen for less than $500. We’ll see. I’ve set the budget to $500 and I’ve published an elance.com entry soliciting bids.

I wonder if the PlayBook developer marketplace is too small to support this kind of work? I don’t know.

Programming for the PlayBook definitely looks straight forward, especially if you use WebWorks. And I’m not asking the world — it’s a simple app I would like in the first instance. If I had more time I reckon I could definitely code an HTML5 app (that could be easily submitted to App World.

What kind of experience do you think I’m likely to have? Any predictions before we begin the journey?

Here’s a video introduction I made earlier…

Recently Published

Question: When is the only time a traffic jam is good news in the UK?

Answer: When you're sitting in the back of an Uber and you need reliable mobile signal. Boom! Sad, isn't it, dear reader? Travel all around...

Ah yes, an S23 with a BlackBerry Bold Keyboard: Exactly what I (think) I need

I was playing with Midjourney, the AI/photo generation service and I asked it to show me what a Samsung S23 would look like with...

It’s ok, your moon photos aren’t fake, they are just enhanced – quite a bit

Have you taken a photo of the moon recently? I almost did, the other day, when I spotted a fabulous moment here in Dubai....

Don’t move! You’ll jinx it! This looks like a tiny bit of innovation in the mobile world

It has been quite a while since I’ve seen anything in the mobile industry that’s caused me to want to write much. Just look...

The new BlackBerry movie trailer is here

Were you a BlackBerry fan? Of course you were. At some point, almost everyone was. I still remember the days and the joy that...

Airalo: The easy way to roam globally with a data eSIM

Shortly before I began my FinTech & Banking Tour around the GCC, I popped into the Apple AppStore and searched ‘eSim’. I wondered if...