Creative announced the release of its Application Development Kit (ADK) for the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 player. The ADK, which includes a simulator, programmers’ guide and API reference guide, is hoped to entice developers into creating X-Fi2 applications.
With all the app stores out there, perhaps there is room for one more. Creative sure hopes so, and with the release of this ADK (or as most refer to them, a Software Development Kit, or SDK), they are providing developers with the tools required to create full fledged applications as well as customizations for the ZEN X-Fi2 player.
ZEN X-Fi2 is Creative’s challenge to Apple’s iPod Touch. It features 3 inch touchscreen, and can play music and videos, supports common image formats, and enables users to download their favorite RSS feeds, which can then be displayed on the device’s screen. It’s expandable via a microSD slot, and by using an A/V cable, can be displayed on a TV screen. It also includes a radio with 32 presets, a voice recorder, alarm, games, utilities and apparently, the ability to run new applications.
The ZEN X-Fi2 ADK is based on Lua, a scripting language that is commonly used to develop games. According to Creative, Lua “combines simple procedural syntax with powerful data description constructs based on associative arrays and extensible semantics. Lua is dynamically typed, runs by interpreting byte-code for a register-based virtual machine and has automatic memory management with incremental garbage collection. Thus, making it ideal for configuration and rapid prototyping.”
The Creative ADK is free for developers to download and use, unlike the SDK for the iphone/iPod, which has a high cost, and hence, presents a high barrier for many developers. Creative believes that by using the ADK, developers will soon “create and debug games and applications right from their Windows PC, before installing them into the ZEN X-Fi2 player.”
There is no word from Creative if the ADK will be supported by its upcoming Zii Egg, which will have music and video playback capabilities, a GPS, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and an HD camera on the back.
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