RIM woos developers as it looks to rebuild reputation

The Blackberry software developer’s conference begins today and RIM faces the difficult battle of gaining traction in light of its global BBM blackout.

App developers will be given training sessions during the Blackberry DevCon which takes place in San Francisco. RIM filled the conference with seminars, informative sessions and discussions which are aimed at rebuilding the status of Blackberry’s applications on its Playbook tablet and smartphones.

Co-founder of RIM, Mike Lazaridis opened the conference for the developers, mobile partners and “passionate enthusiasts” that will show off what Blackberry “has in store” for the world.

RIM plans on creating games which can compete against the likes of the Android, iPad and iPhone offerings. It wants to essentially create games which become “vital” to own, citing Angry Birds as an example.

Applications can turn any smartphone into a boundless mobile platform capable of delivering functionality far beyond its initial hardware specifications. RIM realises that people have come to rely on their phones as convergence devices and as platforms which keep their social status in check. In our consumerist market, Blackberry is hoping to capitalise on the average user’s mobile software needs.

RIM’s battle will be against a sturdy foe, namely its own falling stock price. Blackberry shares fell sharply to below US$23 on Monday. In order to combat its worldwide messaging blackout, RIM offered its customers “premium applications and games worth a total value of more than US$100”. This was its “expression of appreciation”.

BlackBerry services were down for three days in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East. RIM traced the issues to a “core switch” failure in Europe, also citing a failed backup mechanism as the root of the email and messaging collapse. Refunds have been issued on certain networks but for the 70 million Blackberry users worldwide, last week will simply remain as period of downtime which they are struggling to recover from.