BlackBerry App World Open to the Public

We've been waiting for the opening of the BlackBerry application storefront for some time now. After all, every smartphone manufacture seems to be in a race to open sites dedicated to selling applications specifically for their own devices like the Apple iTunes App Store. There's already the Palm Software Store and the Android Market and Nokia has announced that it will be opening its own Ovi Store this spring.



So we're glad to see that RIM has settled on a name: BlackBerry App World. Not bad, maybe a little pretentious, but not bad. Aside from that, last night's big reveal was little more than an announcement that there would be an announcement. The sites banner shouts, "Prepare to enter a world of possibilities." Actually, I was already prepared to enter a world of possibilities which is why I logged on to the site. The only possibility that was offered, unfortunately, was to sign up to be the first to know when there actually was an actual store site. Also annoying: I learned that a PayPal account would be required to make purchases from the site.

Taking a look at the area dedicated to developers did offer some interesting news. RIM has added an interesting pricing structure that developers can use to suggest a selling price for their products. The pricing tiers allow for free applications and we're all in favor of that, but then the price jumps to $2.99. Prices can rise in dollar increments up to $19.99 but after that, increases become steeper. That seems rather an odd way to enter the competition in a world that is populated with 99 cent applications. Three bucks isn't too much to pay for a worthwhile app but if a developer is happy with selling his product for a buck or two, why not?

Perhaps RIM hopes to avoid the onslaught of garbage apps that are so common. Anyway, unlike the iTunes App Store, BlackBerry App World isn't an exclusive seller of legitimate applications for BlackBerry. If sellers want to undercut the price, there's always CrackBerry, Handmark and Handango.

For objective reviews, check out our BlackBerry Applications Review site. And for other tech news, see our tech blog posts:

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