RIM announces BBX - the new platform for phones and tablets

Quite expectedly RIM has just announced its new platform called BBX. BBX combines "the best of BlackBerry and the best of QNX", as RIM puts it. The new BBX-OS based on this BBX platform will be for both smartphones and tablets, and will offer support for apps developed for the previous BlackBerry OS 6 and OS 7, but also Adobe Air and Flash apps, HTML 5 or even for Android apps thanks to the BlackBerry Runtime for Android software module.

The BBX-OS compatibility with OS 6/7 apps is possible, but its native SDK will be much more powerful and flexible to build anything you may want. The BBX platform is POSIX certified too, if you choose native app development.

One more thing, the BBX is as focused on the security as the previous BlackBerry platforms and it has EAL4+ and SIL3 security certifications. It’s also a good thing to know the BlackBerry PlayBook is the first ever tablet certified for government use.

RIM has also announced the PlayBook OS 2.0 Developer Beta. Its announcement is also accompanied with the Native SDK final version release with all tools needed for porting Android apps, support for Adobe Air 3.0 and Flash 11, as well as WebGL (hardware accelerated graphics for the web browser). All this PlayBook-related OS and tools will become available later today.

Gamers should be happy to hear RIM is preparing a cross-platform SDK called Marmalade, which is used to port code. The demonstrations on the DevCon showed ported games such as Tomb Raider and The Guardian of Light, Dead Space, Need for Speed, etc.

So, RIM is taking a new direction with these announcements and it seems there are lots of possibilities for the PlayBook and the devices to follow. The adopters of the PlayBook won't be disappointed as stuff like that will breathe life in the QNX-based slate.

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