Blackberry Development for both Playbook and BB10 - Possible to make universal app?

Question

I am looking into doing development for BlackBerry, but I am confused about a few things. Maybe someone here can clear them up:

• Is it possible to build a "Universal" app that runs on both Playbook and BB10?
• Using the Java IDE, will I be able to use all the native SDK's? Or, do I need to use the Native C IDE for this?
• Is using Eclipse the best chose for BlackBerry Java development?

Answer 1

1. Certainly, especially once the PlayBook is updated to BB10 which will happen after BB10 officially launches in 2013, since then they'll be running the same OS. For now, you could use AIR (as Alexander points out) and also WebWorks, and for that matter the Native SDK works fine too. You could also use the regular Qt libraries, which run fine on both the Dev Alpha device (only existing hardware that runs BB10) and the PlayBook.

2. As Shashank's comment says, there is no Java support except for what the Android runtime provides you. RIM is clearly trying to make all the supported SDKs allow as complete access to the entire OS as possible, but note that in the end only the Native SDK (C/C++) will provide full access to everything. The gaps that the others have may be relatively narrow, however, with rarely used APIs being the only things not supported.

3. Given that Java is used only for the legacy BBOS development (aside from the Android runtime) I suspect the question is moot. Note however that Eclipse is the basis for the Momentics IDE which is the included IDE for the Native and Cascades SDKs.

Answer 2

A "universal app" for Playbook and BB10 would be possible in AIR.