1. The Web Platform
Striving to offer the best Open Web platform
Laurent Hasson
@ldhasson, lhasson@rim.com
Technical Director, BlackBerry Web Platform

2. BlackBerry Loves the Web
• Industry leading WebKit browser with best in class standards support: full desktop-class
rendering
• position:fixed, overflow:scroll shipped in Spring 2011 on PB, and late Summer 2011 on BB7 devices, WebGL
and accelerated Canvas in PlayBook OS 2.0 in Feb 2012.
• Full Web Application platform across tablets and smartphones
•WebWorks and Apache Cordova (fka PhoneGap)
• Leading edge Web dev tools for inspection, debugging, emulation
•Ripple and Web Inspector
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 2

3. Say no to NIBS
• The “Native Is Better” crowd are missing the
point of the Web
– It’s the scale of the market: powerful, cross-
platform, and an abundant skill set.
•
NIBS
This is not to say that Web is better than
Native
– That would be silly
• But the Web is absolutely competitive
– Most types of apps can now be built very nicely
using Web technologies
– The gap is narrow today, keeps on getting
narrower, and fast.
• Native and Web will coexist with the Web
* Native Is Better Syndrome likely taking the mass market (> 50% apps)
– But Native experience is the competitor to Web
experience
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 3

4. BlackBerry WebWorks
• A standard HMTL/JS/CSS Web application, packaged in a
native container, with access to native APIs.
• In market since 2009. Now on BlackBerry 5/6/7, BlackBerry
PlayBook and upcoming BB10 phones
• WebWorks == Apache Cordova for BlackBerry
• OSS Community http://www.github.com/blackberry
• An HTML5 application doesn’t mean no App store or no
access to native service.
BlackBerry
WebWorks
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 4

5. Open Source Ecosystem
bbUI.js
• Active in the open web community: WebKit, jQueryMobile, Apache Cordova
• Also involved with Dojo and Sencha
• Many other innovative projects already in GitHub: AliceJS, bbUI.js…
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 5

6. Tooling
• Bring desktop-class development experience to
mobile
– Remote Web Inspector desktop allows you to real-
time test/debug your app from your desktop
– Edit/Refresh/Test cycle dear to the Web remains intact
for Mobile Web development
• Focus on mobile testing
– Emulate mobile HTML5 rendering, layout and APIs
with Ripple
– Greatly reduce the need for simulators
– Edit/Refresh/Test cycle dear to the Web remains intact
for Mobile Web development (again)
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 6

7. Ripple: Browser-based Emulation
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 7

8. Web Inspector: Ultimate Web Dev Tool
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 8

9. Then what?
OK Laurent, great platform!
But what about the market?
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 9

10. App World
13% of vendors on App World have made over $100,000
That’s more than Apple®, Android™ and Windows Mobile.
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 10

11. BBM: BlackBerry Messenger
BBM helps make your apps stickier
With WebWorks or Apache Cordova,
build Web apps with BBM integration…
… and payment, advertising, push…
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 11

12. OS: Market Decomposition
49%
WebKit
76%
WebKit
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/devzone/appworld
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 12

13. BlackBerry Tooling URLs
• Ripple
– http://ripple.tinyhippos.com/
• BlackBerry WebWorks
– http://us.blackberry.com/developers/browserdev/
• BlackBerry WebWorks Handhelds Downloads
– http://us.blackberry.com/developers/browserdev/widgetsdk.jsp
• BlackBerry WebWorks PlayBook Downloads
– http://us.blackberry.com/developers/tablet/webworks.jsp
• WebWorks Open Source on GitHub
– https://github.com/blackberry
2012-03-19 London Web Summit 13

14. The End – Thank You