Report: BlackBerry app store to launch next week

Research In Motion's new mobile application store is set to launch on April 1 at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas, BusinessWeek reported this week.

Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of RIM, which makes the popular BlackBerry devices, is slated to give a keynote address on the opening day of the trade show and conference. And the company is expected to announce the new application store there.

The BlackBerry application store, which will be called BlackBerry App World, was announced in October 2008. And it is one of several application stores that have been announced to take on Apple's App Store for the iPhone. Nokia, Google, Microsoft, and Palm have all announced plans to offer their own application stores.

Even though there are more people using Nokia, RIM, and Microsoft phones today than there are iPhone users, Apple has essentially run away with the downloadable software market by linking the storefront to its iTunes software and music store. Developers have flocked to the Apple App store and there are currently more than 25,000 applications in the App Store.

Success of the RIM application store will largely depend on whether it can get application developers to develop applications for the BlackBerry devices. RIM has already been working with many established developers and has offered software kits to these developers for years. But it's also planning to be aggressive in helping developers make money from applications. And the company plans to only take a 20 percent cut of any applications that are sold in the virtual store. Apple takes a 30 percent cut.

[SlimGem]

No matter what your feelings about Apple, they sure have kick started this segment of the cell phone industry. But personally, I find the constant smart phone coverage by everyone rather boring. Maybe if I had one I might feel differently ... Naw, it's boring.

[Renegade Knight]

Funny thing how locking folks into iTunes payed such nice dividends for Apple. Handango has been around for a long time as an app store. I like that they work for far more open applications.

I have to admit, that iTunes App store is pretty nice, Normall the prices are low (which they should be for disposable software). While I'd not let iTunes touch a PC it's built into the Mac so it's not been a problem.

[happyslappy13]

u should get the iphone then, u would love it
i have one and its amazing
the apple app store just dominates over all the other app stores, it just doesnt matter who makes an app store now because no one can top apples

[Hep Cat]

RIM: "ME TOOOOOOOOOO!"

From pioneer to pathetic follower (Storm? Please.) in two years.

[solu1978]

I have recently switched to Blackberry storm .. and it would be nice to have a App Store :) .. Blackberry Storm is not the greatest phone but its decent enough.

[jskrenes]

You gotta give Apple credit for repackaging stuff and making us all think it's new. MP3 players were around for a while before the ipod, but they took it to a whole new level and made us think they were the first. We've been able to access the web and download apps to our phones since they started putting dot matrix screens on phones, and handango has been around since the PDA days, but the app store makes us all think Apple was the first (calling it THE app store doesn't hurt).

[jrock83]

Apple is WAY overrated. I've tried the iphone/itouch that my friends have and wasn't really impressed. I also use a mac at work but HATE it (I love my toshiba PC!!) and I'm glad that RIM is coming out with this app store since I use a blackberry curve and love it. I'm not saying it's the greatest phone in the world but I also don't buy into apple-mania.

[dragon779]

I think the key thing that contributes to Apple's success is: ease of use. Itunes/App store integration? Makes it very easy for customers to access and purchase the apps. Most customers of these products don't want to deal with multiple steps to make the stuff work.

I've worked in electronics retail for over 14 years, and have been an avid PDA user for most of that time. Handango was a great website, but most people I sold PDA's to, or helped them with, had no idea the website even existed. This was true for people that may have been on their 3rd or 4th PDA. The app store succeeds because it is built into the phone- everyone knows it's there and can access it. Overall, Apple just tapped into a market that was waiting to buy software.

And no, I'm not an Apple fanboy.

[iconoclast04]

Apple has certainly benefited from integrating its products and making it very easy for people to default to their proprietary solutions. Something tells me that if they had more than tiny share of the computer market, this might attract more anti-trust scrutiny. Look what happened when MS bundled IE with Windows--a litigation nightmare. Actually, part of me thinks this is why the Zune integration with Windows/Media Player isn't as good as it should be. I wonder what the Feds would do if MS tried leveraging its OS dominance into the MP3 player market. But Apple gets away with this kind of crap all the time. Not only does it bundle all sorts of software with its OS, but it ONLY licenses the OS to work on its own hardware. What would happen if some upstart software company created an app store for the iPhone and cried foul because Apple bundles in their App Store with the phone? How is this ultimately different than Netscape with MS? While Apple has a miniscule share of the computer market, it has a huge share of the MP3 player market. Why no antitrust suit against Apple for iTunes? The tie between iPod and iTunes is much stronger than that between Windows and IE.

[callmemarc]

Cool, I just got a Storm the other day. I don't care what people say, I actually like it.

[AZNpeoples]

I dont have a BB but i cant wait for the app store to open!!

Apple is OVERRATED
I played with my friends iphone 3g for like a month and i got very bored of the apps (both free and paid, plus he gets apps daily)

There are better app stores out there

[cmodonnell-spear]

I really don't understand why people get all hot and bothered about Apple vs. Windows; iPhone vs. Blackberry. Find a tool, platform and system that works for you, and try real hard to recognize that your choice is primarily a matter of what tools satisfy your technology needs. The simple fact that you don't like the iPhone, does not mean it is inferior, it only means that it is not a good choice for you.

Likewise, someone who opts to use OpenOffice because working with Word, Excel and/or PowerPoint give them heart palpitations does not mean that Microsoft Office is overrated, or bad. It just doesn't work for that individual.

Take a look around; there is a lot of software out there. I don't think the Apple, Adobe, Google, Microsoft, and/or "fill in the large software development of choice here", are the ones forcing us into their way of working. It is all to often us limiting ourselves by focusing on the relative weaknesses of particular technology solutions, software and tools, and not spending time finding alternative solutions that work for us individually.