BlackBerry Storm phoneI twittered a link to an article by Gizmodo yesterday in which it was announced that BlackBerry was bringing it's own application store to their mobile products.  Obviously the success of the BlackBerry is fairly well known, but with the iPhone gaining more and more traction it's not entirely unexpected that BlackBerry would want to throw their hat into the mobile application market along with the recently released T-Mobile G1 (powered by Google's Android OS).  Could this be the new trend in application development?

As more and more emphasis is put on cloud computing it seems that there isn't as much need for actual desktop applications anymore.  Presumably the ultimate goal of computing in the cloud is that we'll be able to access server-based applications from a web browser, much like 280slides and Pixlr - two websites I've probably talked about a little too much recently.  I've also made reference to the Google applications (docs, calendar, mail) and Microsoft's Live services (email, calendar, Skydrive, Live Mesh) as other good examples of where cloud computing might be headed.  So then, in 15 years will traditional desktop application developers still have a role in the tech industry?

I think that's where all of this push for mobile applications comes in.  Obviously they're successful.  I wrote a post about the developer of Trism for iPhone being on track to make $2 million by 2009.  There's a market here.  Besides, isn't that what we've wanted from our cellphones all along, that is to say a mobile computing device?  The phones in question (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry) have some features with all sorts of potential for developers - functionality that we dont necessarily see in even sophisticated computers today because they don't lend themselves well.  I'm talking about GPS, video capturing, accelerometers and obviously telephony - and it shows with some of the more innovative apps to hit the phones' respective stores.

Android application storeOf course there is some room for improvement.  The G1 for instance, only has around 30 applications right now despite being completely open source.  Also a lot of the applications are a little too innovative for their own good; for example there's an application that calculates your carbon footprint as you drive using GPS (it's called Ecorio, seen here) and yet there isn't a quality instant messenger app.  Some have speculated that this is because of Google's $10 million contest for the best Android application, which may have spurred more incentive to make an overly ambitious application instead of focusing on something more basic (and yet essential).

It seems like common sense to me that as the shift to smaller devices happens that developers will have a home on mobile platforms.  It could be sort of a trend in which BlackBerry sees the iPhone and Andriod app stores and says "we need to get in on that as well" but based on some of the success stories so far I think mobile applications are here to stay.  They aren't new, but now they're beginning to take front stage.  I don't dare say that this shift will be as important as the shift to the internet, but to say that mobile applications won't have at least comparitive importance is rather shortsighted.  So if you're a desktop application developer (or any developer in general) it might just be worth your while to grab a copy of the iPhone/Android/Blackberry(???) SDK and tinker around a bit. =)

Now Playing:
The Pogues - The Battle March Medley
Saints Row 2