RIM Store Crowned BlackBerry App World

[BESadmin]

RIM store crowned BlackBerry App World
5th March 2009
www.download.com

BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion announced that its upcoming application storefront will officially be called BlackBerry App World. The developer site will be updated Wednesday night to make appropriate changes but will be live again by 7 p.m. PST, according to RIM. In addition, anyone interested in finding out when the store goes live can sign up for alerts on the BlackBerry App World site.

RIM opened up application submissions in January, and the store is scheduled to launch sometime in March. We asked our contact at RIM if the store is still on track to open this month, and a representative from the company's press agency confirmed that BlackBerry App World is still set for a March debut.

Download.com associate editor Jessica Dolcourt also received this additional information about distribution:

Q: Will BlackBerry App World be a downloadable mobile app for existing BlackBerry owners and a preloaded app that will ship on forthcoming BlackBerrys?

RIM: BlackBerry App World will be a downloadable application at launch. Future versions and distribution models haven't really been decided yet.

Q: Will there be a desktop version, etc.?

RIM: There will be a Web-based catalog at launch, but for the first version BlackBerry App World is a mobile app.

[BESadmin]

Australia to sit out Blackberry app store launch
6th March 2009
www.crn.com.au

Australian Blackberry users will have to watch our British, American and Canadian friends download mobile applications from RIM's new BlackBerry App Store from the sidelines.

The new app store, Blackberry App World, will launch within days for users in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, according to a RIM announcement.

But RIM's local representatives are unable to confirm when Australian users will have access to the downloadable applications, or how an Australian IP address might be blocked from accessing the store once it launches.

Blackberry App World users overseas will be able to purchase apps from the store using online payments engine, PayPal.
Many Australian users already use PayPal for their transactions on auction site eBay.

Pricing for Blackberry apps follow a tiered structure. The cheapest apps (other than free one) start at US$2.99, over three times the price of the cheapest downloadable programs on Apple's iPhone store.
The most expensive applications will be listed at US$9.99.