As the BlackBerry smartphone gains market share, software developers are increasingly wondering if they should be writing or porting applications to run on the BlackBerry platform. It's not a decision to be taken lightly because there are significant investments in time and effort in writing software for any mobile platform. And the BlackBerry platform is very different from the other platforms. Here's a quick rundown on what you need to know before creating BlackBerry applications.

1. BlackBerry software is written in Java. Java is the only choice for non-browser application development. You can't write applications in C or C++, so don't even bother going there. (The very earliest models of the BlackBerry supported C/C++, but the platform switched to Java exclusively several years ago.)
2. The Java is Java ME. The BlackBerry's Java support is for Java ME (Micro Edition), the stripped-down version of Java designed for mobile phones and other constrained devices. The language is the same (most features are supported) but the class libraries are vastly different -- mostly because they're much smaller. This makes porting code a challenge.
3. But it's also BlackBerry-specific. The Java ME class library is small, so the BlackBerry augments it with a number of device-specific APIs, including the graphical user interface APIs. You need to learn these APIs to write "real" BlackBerry applications.
4. You need to test on real devices. This shouldn't be any surprise to anyone who's done mobile application development before, but it's even truer on the BlackBerry platform. The BlackBerry simulator can easily give you a false sense of security when testing your application features, especially the networking aspects. There's nothing like testing it on a real device. Preferably, several real devices.
5. BlackBerry infrastructure is complex. BlackBerry programming isn't just about understanding Java and the BlackBerry APIs, it's also about understanding the entire BlackBerry infrastructure, from the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) to the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) and everything in between.

The reality is that BlackBerry programming is a specialization that is developed over time. It's not nearly as simple as it seems at first, as many developers have discovered to their dismay.