Event Report: BlackBerry Developer Day and KIAD Competition

Yesterday at ITB Bandung there was BlackBerry Developer Day, a meet up between developers and RIM representatives namely Johan Kremer Head of Alliances for SEA, Research In Motion (Singapore) Pte Ltd dan Sarim Aziz – Senior Applications Development.

RIM presented BlackBerry’s development in South East Asia especially in Indonesia which according to RIM’s date is the highest in mobile phone ownership on age 8-24 years old, spiking on 80%. RIM also gave presentation on WebWorks Development for BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry Smartphones, Adobe AIR Development for the BlackBerry PlayBook, and BlackBerry Development Platform Roadmap.

7langit, Elasitas and Tasterous were there as well as other Indonesian developers, although only 7langit and Elasitas gave their presentation regarding various things related to BlackBerry application development. They developed application for BlackBerry and PlayBook, and including some of many developers who joined the free PlayBook program by RIM.

In my small talks with Johan Kremer during break time, Johan said that Indonesia is BlackBerry’s huge market share. Johan also said that in data communication, BlackBerry is still the best platform. Smart phone/tablet level of competition is really tough, not only in terms of market but also in terms of application development. Each platform providers try hard to attract developers to develop application on their platform and in the end attract more consumers. Points on these can be read here.

At the same event, Kompas also announced a competition collaborating with ITB called Kompas ITB Application Developers Competition 2011 or KIAD Competition 2011. The competition aims to find future excellent developers all over Indonesia. BlackBerry OS5 and above and BlackBerry PlayBook is the mobile application platform.

First prize will be cash of Rp 25 million + BlackBerry Playbook + BlackBerry Torch + Coaching Clinic + cooperation contract. Second prize will be cash of Rp 15 million + BlackBerry Playbook + Coaching Clinic + cooperation contract. The third prize will be cash of Rp 5 million + BlackBerry Torch + Coaching Clinic + cooperation contract.

Complete information can be found in KIAD’s websites. The latest date of registration for application ideas will be May 31, 2011. The competition is open for public. You can also find further information on their Twitter account @kiad2011.