Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » BlackBerry App World

BlackBerry App World Hits One Billion Downloads

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:53:27 +0000

It took a bit over two years, but Research In Motion has hit a major milestone. The company has hit one billion downloads on the BlackBerry App World application store. The milestone was achieved between smartphones and tablets. It took about the same amount of time for the Android Market to hit the same milestone. Apple is currently seeing about one billion downloads per month for their App Store. [Inside BlackBerry]

RIM Now Offering Free BlackBerry Protect Service To All Users

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:46:20 +0000

Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) is now providing free BlackBerry Protect service to all BlackBerry users. This service was only previously available to enterprise users. The BlackBerry Protect service allows people to locate, back up, and remotely wipe their handsets. The BlackBerry Protect service can be downloaded from BlackBerry App World. Another useful feature is the ability to have an extra loud ring for when your handset cannot be found or mapping it on the GPS. [The Register UK via SlashGear]

BlackBerry PlayBook To Support Android Apps Says RIM Rep [VIDEO]

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:10:32 +0000

Research In Motion (RIM) is adding support for Android applications on the BlackBerry PlayBook. This is interesting considering that BlackBerry has their own competing mobile application store called BlackBerry App World. A RIM representative was caught in the video below saying “we will also support Android apps when we release the Dalvik engine on top of QNX.” This video was filmed at Mobile World Congress.

[BGR]

BlackBerry App World 2.1 Has In-App Purchases

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:13:36 +0000

BlackBerry App World 2.1 has officially launched and and now RIM is offering in-app payment support just like Apple iOS and Google Android has. The BlackBerry Payment Service is used for in-app payments and it comes with a new SDK. RIM developers will be able to use the BlackBerry App World Vendor Portal to manage virtual goods. [SlashGear]

My Prediction For Mobile Market Share In 2011

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 23:18:02 +0000

Fortune’s Seth Weintraub has written a lengthy article about how 2011 will be an explosive year for the Android operating system. He also pointed out that about 269.9 million smartphones were sold this year compared to the 173.5 million shipped in 2009. In 2011 we could see a shipment of about 500 million smartphones across the world. I’ve pulled up a couple of charts from previous reports I have written about in regards to smartphone market share to make a prediction myself. The chart in the top left is Smartphone Market Share from Q1 2010 by Nielsen (Exhibit A). The second chart is smartphone OS mix Q3 2010 put together by Millenial Media, a mobile advertising analytics company (Exhibit B).

Android vs. iPhone
I believe that between these two charts, you can fairly assess what is going to happen in 2011. In Exhibit A, you will notice that Android only had a 9% market share. Fast forward two quarters later and you will notice that Android now has a 38% market share. The iPhone operating system market share jumped from 28% to 38% between Exhibit A and Exhibit B. Android has been able to spread at a rapid pace due to the open source nature of the mobile operating system. Since OEMs have to pay very little to get Android running on their phones, why not make them the default OS? HTC, Motorola, LG and Samsung are seeing the benefits of doing so. These lower costs get passed on to the consumer and will the very same reason why I am predicting that Android will surpass the Apple iPhone in market share in 2011.

Despite a higher Android market share, it is unlikely that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) will be making more money than Apple from their mobile operating system. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) still has a stronger consumer application ecosystem. In other words, people are more willing to spend money on Apple applications than Google applications. Angry Birds is a huge example as the full version is free on Android and paid on iOS.

The Future of RIM
RIM is the perfect example of what happens if you don’t keep your eye on the ball. In Exhibit A, RIM had a 35% market share and suffered a huge blow over the last two quarters as they now have a 19% market share. If RIM does not clean up their act quickly, then they will likely see their market share drop to 10% in 2011. RIM has been attempting to address the issue of a weak application ecosystem on their operating system by decreasing the minimum app price and increasing the revenue split in favor of developers. But this still doesn’t change the fact that every BlackBerry owner I have talked to is not that happy with the web browsing experiences on their devices.

The New Guy In Class: Windows Phone 7 OS
I believe that 2011 will be a break-out year for Microsoft. Microsoft’s application ecosystem is starting to come together. There are some great applications on the Windows Marketplace. And Microsoft’s OEM partners are developing phones that have specifications comparable to Android devices and the iPhone. Microsoft is rumored to be in talks with Nokia. We may see Symbian’s smartphone market share get replaced by Windows Phone 7 in 2011 if a deal comes through. Microsoft has a bit of money to back them up for smartphone marketing too.

The year 2011 will be an interesting year in the smartphone market. What are your predictions? Let us know in the comments.

Kik Gets Kicked Out Of BlackBerry App World and Sued

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 06:55:52 +0000

As if getting kicked out of the BlackBerry App World wasn’t enough, Research In Motion is also suing the company behind Kik Messenger. Kik created a message application that competes directly with the BBM messenger service on BlackBerry devices. RIM removed Kik from BlackBerry App World on November 12th for “breaching contractual obligations.” On November 30th RIM filed a patent infringement lawsuit case against Kik in Canada’s Federal Court in Toronto. [Gizmodo]

BlackBerry App World Now Viewable On A PC Web Browser

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 21:33:09 +0000

Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) has made BlackBerry App World viewable on PC web browsers. This makes it easier to view what apps are available on a bigger screen. Users can also purchase apps directly from the website. You can also edit and sync downloads directly to BlackBerry smartphones. RIM users can read and write reviews to applications that they have downloaded. You can view the BlackBerry App World from your computer at this URL: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/.

Drive Safe.ly Lets You Respond To SMS Using Your Voice [ANDROID/BLACKBERRY APPS]

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:06:47 +0000

Drive Safe.ly is a mobile application that lets you read e-mail or receive/send SMS messages while you are driving. This makes it easier to communicate while you are driving. The way it works is simple: Turn it on before you start driving and incoming e-mails and text messages will be read to you. If the application messes up when you say the text message that you want to send out, you can always say “Try again.” The e-mail and SMS read/respond application costs about $13.95 per year or $3.95 per month. The application download is free on BlackBerry App World and Android Market. [Drive Safe.ly via Lifehacker]

BlackBerry App World Now 10,000 Applications Strong

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:14:06 +0000

Even though the Apple App Store and Google Android has much higher count of applications, RIM has hit a milestone nonetheless. The BlackBerry App World application store now has 10,000 applications!

This is a good time for BlackBerry App World to hit this milestone because there are substantial changes happening with RIM’s application store. RIM is adding credit card and carrier billing over the next few months and dropped the minimum application price to $0.99. This may lead to an increase in application sales.

[UberGizmo]

BlackBerry App World Decreasing Minimum App Price

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:00:12 +0000

Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) is making some substantial changes to BlackBerry App World. RIM is adding credit card and carrier billing over the next several months to BlackBerry App World. The first carrier billing service will be through AT&T.

The minimum application price will be dropped from $2.99 to $0.99 and $1.99 price points. Carrier billing will make it easier to buy applications on BlackBerry App World. It makes application purchases easier on the consumer. They don’t have to enter their credit card numbers or their PayPal login credentials.

Unfortunately for developers, RIM is dropping their revenue sharing split. Now BlackBerry application developers will earn a 70% commission instead of the 80% that has been previously set. The 70-30 split is the same commissions that Google pays for Android app sales and Apple splits for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app sales.

Currently BlackBerry App World is available across 65 countries.

Another enhancement RIM is doing for BlackBerry App World includes new sections. Users will be able to see the Top 25 Free Apps, Top 25 Paid Apps, and Top 25 Themes. There will also be QR barcode scanning support. BlackBerry IDs will be created to enable credit card payments and to help seamlessly transfer apps when switching BlackBerry phones.

[paidContent]