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Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:Felipe,
Welcome to JavaRanch!
Is Superapp the name of a game or is it like a "killer app" thing?
Carol Hamer wrote:Those superapp links are quite interesting -- they do a good job of pointing out some of the special advantages of BlackBerry. In the same way most of the 'superapp" features are about integrating your BlackBerry with your messages and other online activities, a "superapp" game would likely be integrated with games you play online. For example, a lot of games don't need to run in the background and receive notifications from the Internet, but there are definitely gaming applications for that. If you're playing a MMORG where there's stuff going on the the game universe all the time, you might want your BlackBerry to be notified, if, say, enemies are approaching.
One advantage that BlackBerry has over some other platforms is the server-side API that allows you to push messages to you app. This is great for a multi-player game because the client app doesn't need to poll for updates. You can have the game running in the background, and if something happens in the game universe, you can have your game notify the user with a subtle icon on the home screen (or even have it do something less subtle). Another advantage is that your game can check if the device is currently connected by WIFI (generally much cheaper for data download), and can download game data in the background for later use. Also, as Andrew showed in Chapter 11, you can integrate with the smartphone's GPS and maps to do a real-life chase game.
BlackBerry gives your app a surprising amount of access to the user's home screen, messages, personal data, etc. Beware, of course, that while this may help you make an app the user loves, there's also tremendous potential to create an app that makes the user very angry (especially: wasting the battery, wasting memory, too many intrusive alerts, downloading too much data, misusing the user's personal info, etc.).
Felipe Andrade wrote:- What are the main advantages of Blackberry push messages over the iPhone push notification API? What devices support it?
Felipe Andrade wrote:- How can we use in-app purchase in Blackberry games?
Carol Hamer wrote:
If your game sells anything else (eg. unlocking levels or special items, etc.), you have to implement the billing yourself. And, in that case, if you distribute your game on BlackBerry App World, you'll need to discuss with RIM how you will pay them a share of the earnings.
Felipe Andrade wrote:sorry, what do you mean when you talk that we have to implement the billing... Is there an App World API to help developers get payments directly from the app?