Apr
1
BlackBerry App World Goes Live
(Credit: RIM)
Today Research In Motion (RIM) announced the official launch of its much anticipated App World. Similar to the App Store found on the iPhone, the BlackBerry App World offers hundreds, and eventually thousands, of free and paid applications for its smartphones.
The App World is available to all BlackBerry users in the US, Canada and UK with compatible devices (smartphones with a trackball or touch-screen running version 4.2 or higher of the BlackBerry software). To register, simply visit www.blackberry.com/appworld from your BlackBerry and download the application. You will also need to register with PayPal if you don’t have an account already. The App World offers seamless PayPal integration for purchasing paid apps.
The first apps available for download include popular software titles featured in the iPhone App Store like Shazam, Pandora, Facebook and The New York Times. Users can browse through available apps a number of ways including featured apps, top downloads, categories and keyword searches.
Similar to Apple’s App Store, RIM gives the majority of sales revenues back to the software developers. In a move to perhaps entice more developers to create BlackBerry applications, RIM plans to give developers 80 percent of revenues, which is significantly higher than the 70 percent Apple shares with developers.
Apple launched its extremely popular App Store in July of last year and has seen amazing success in a short amount of time. In January Apple announced that over 15,000 applications were available for download, and that list grows every day. Downloads passed the 500 million mark in just 6 months, and many software developers have created blockbuster apps that generate six-figure revenues in just a few days. RIM has some serious catching up to do with its new App World.
While the iPhone App Store offers thousands of apps for as little as 99 cents, the BlacBerry App World has a minimum price for applications set at $2.99. Both stores offer many free applications, however. Will this higher minimum price tag and the hassle of PayPal hinder RIM’s App World? We should know in the next few weeks.
Both Microsoft and handset maker Nokia announced they are developing similar mobile application stores, in an attempt to capitalize on this newest trend in mobile software.
