From an app development standpoint, RIM (RIMM) needs all of the world’s most popular smartphone apps its can get for its next-gen BlackBerry 10 platform. Beyond native Facebook (FB) and Twitter apps, it needs apps that have massive communities such as Instagram that are already outpacing Twitter in terms of daily active users in the United States. But now VentureBeat is reporting that Facebook will not give the green light for an Instagram app to be built for BB10. If Facebook doesn’t even want to devote resources to helping BB10, why would any smaller developers want to?
UPDATE: CrackBerry claims VentureBeat’s sources are erroneous and says that according to its own internal sources Instagram is indeed coming to the BB10 platform.
In this case, VentureBeat says Facebook’s decision could be based on the fact that BB10 will have its own built-in photo filters. RIM is hoping for BB10 to hit hard with the consumer market that Android and iOS already dominate, but the lack of Instagram support poses a major challenge, especially since Windows Phone 8 is also expected to get Instagram. A RIM spokesperson told BGR that the company doesn’t comment on individual apps and that it is working with “top tier app developers to ensure BlackBerry 10 has the apps consumers want when it launches in Q1 2013.”
