RIM Launches BlackBerry App World

[BESadmin]

RIM Launches BlackBerry App World
PC Magazine
3rd April 2009

Research In Motion launched the official BlackBerry App World application store today, giving BlackBerry owners an easy way to download new applications for their phones. Users can download the new store at mobile.blackberry.com or blackberry.com/appworld.

BlackBerry owners have been able to download third-party applications for years, both directly from manufacturers' sites and from stores like Handango. But since the iPhone grabbed the global imagination, competing smartphone providers have announced desires to create centralized stores that appear on every phone.

BlackBerry App World is one of those stores. Programmers of the "thousands" of existing BlackBerry apps (according to RIM), or of new apps, can submit their programs to the store. Developers pay RIM $200 for a batch of 10 submissions, according to RIM. Updates, or resubmissions of rejected apps, are counted against that quota. Both the developer and each app need to be certified by RIM, and developers get 80 percent of revenues back—10 percent more than Apple is offering.

There's one other big difference between the BlackBerry and Apple app stores, at least for now: no 99-cent programs. BlackBerry programs are either free, or $2.99 or above.

RIM replaces Apple's iTunes-powered purchasing system with PayPal—you have to sign up for a PayPal account to buy apps. Otherwise, the browsing experience is what you'd expect from an app store. You can browse through categories, look at a list of popular applications, check out apps that RIM has decided to feature, or search for particular apps on your phone. Once you've downloaded an app, it appears in the "My World" section of your account, where you can uninstall it or download it again if it accidentally gets erased. Consumers can redownload apps in My World to new phones up to three times a year.

The App World will be available on all BlackBerrys with track balls, including Pearls, Curves, Flips, Bolds, and 8800 series phones, RIM said. The store will be available in the U.S., Canada, and the UK initially, according to RIM.

Apps featured in the initial BlackBerry App World literature include:

• PrimeTime2Go, a service which lets you download TV programs onto your BlackBerry
• The New York Times
• Oregon Trail, a classic educational game
• Bloomberg News
• WorldMate Live, a travel-management app
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Pandora
• Slacker
• Ticketmaster
• Google Maps
• Viigo, an RSS reader and information app
• Brain Challenge, a puzzle game
• Uno, a classic card game

It will be easy for RIM to become number two in the app store world, but very hard to become number one. Microsoft, Nokia, and Palm haven't launched their promised app stores yet, and growth in the Android App Market has been constrained by the lack of Android phones out there. BlackBerrys are the most popular smartphone line in the U.S., thanks to their wide variety of models and availability on five different national carriers. If RIM can just get its existing developers to join BlackBerry App World, it will already have a powerful catalog.

Beating Apple's record of 27,000 apps, though, will be tough. The minimum price of $2.99 will dissuade some app vendors (though RIM may think that's a plus) and some developers have said that the Android and iPhone environments allow them more flexibility than the BlackBerry's Java system.

More Info: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/appworld/

[vozman]

i tried to install it but it said it doens't support my device
i'm using bb bold with three carrier

[GaryCutri]

Hi,

The BlackBerry App World is currently not available in Australia. I am yet to confirm the details around the reason for this decision.

"The store will be available in the U.S., Canada, and the UK initially"

Thanks,

Gary

[jhickm]

Hey,
As weird as it is, using an O2 8100 blackberry from overseas with my Optus Australia account i am able to use and install the app world. There is a lot of cool programs on there.

I assume though that it is not available in Australia as there is some apps like ticketmaster that do not work.

Your turn will come :P

James

[GaryCutri]

Originally Posted by jhickm

Hey,
As weird as it is, using an O2 8100 blackberry from overseas with my Optus Australia account i am able to use and install the app world. There is a lot of cool programs on there.

I assume though that it is not available in Australia as there is some apps like ticketmaster that do not work.

Your turn will come :P

James

The access to BAW is controlled by the Vendor ID programmed into the device.