RIM’s app store shamelessly dubbed App World; developer site goes live tonight
It looks like RIM is finally taking a big step toward making its on-device app portal a reality. The developer site, blackberry.com/appworld, is set to go live at 10:00 pm EST and end-users will also be able to sign up for alerts at that time. As for the official name… App World. Yep, it’s fairly obvious that the App Store model works and competitors aren’t even bothering with trying to distinguish their offerings from the godfather. In fact by shamelessly copying the name of Apple’s portal, RIM is likely (and wisely) hoping potential customers immediately make the connection with the successful Apple shop and dive right in. So there you have it folks — the on-device App World portal will likely launch to users fairly soon so get those credit cards ready, recession be damned.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
This site really biased huh…
^ … said the clueless.
Ha! Zach, RIM made ya look! (musta been a test)
Cool. Looking forward to this for the Storm; VZW dumbphones with V-Cast have access to some really cool apps. Hoping to see some of them come over to Blackberries.
Thinking specifically of the SongID app, but I’m sure there are plenty of others too.
This sounds like it could be interesting…or a big flop. I hope that Rim has some great apps to offer right off the bat! Also, wouldn’t it be cool if the new facebook app was available for download?! Naaah…that would be too organized lol!
Here’s hoping it’s available on the Curve 8900.
I’d like to note that OTA app stores such as Handango have existed for a loooooooooooong time and have served up Palm, WinMo and BlackBerry apps since before Apple made iPods let alone iPhones.
Sure, they weren’t as well-known or popular then, but might we consider the App Store to be a shameless copy of some earlier store?
My main point is that it isn’t necessarily a shameless rip-off as much as it is an adaptation to the market.
ITS ABOUT TIME!!!
Hahahaha of that isn’t apple fanboyism, then I don’t know what is.
I read this blog looking for RIM and Apple news because of the absurd bias these writers have.
Makes my day all the time.
Keep up the good work BGR
As long as they can modify the SMS feature to be TRULY threaded.
Vic – good point! I forgot about the 8900 no love. Come on Rim and surprise us!
Zach – Get over yourself!
Threaded messaging
Shop Savvy
Shazam
is anything else important?
Sounds like the Crap Store to me. I just ditched BlackBerry and went back to Windows Mobile so I could do ESN “magic” and hack/smack/break the phone. BlackBerry OS doesn’t let you tinker with much of anything…
I don’t get why this is such a bad thing, other than so you can show your true fanboie colors. If Apple was doing something like this you’d be praising them, not taking shots.
It’s not surprising that RIM is looking to exploit a business opportunity. Similarly, it will not be surprising when “App World” fails to even approach the App Store’s sucess. Oh, and please don’t start with Palm or Handango. . .all you need to know about those jalopies is that neither was successful enough to encourage RIM to follow. Also, if you have ever bought apps for a Palm unit, you need to put the Treo down and get a date.
I find it funny these people make money writing for a tech blog but typically show such bias towards products and generally, little knowledge of technology.
I think a better analogy for apples app store would have been the “great grandson” with consideration Handango has been doing this and not to mention …. the sidekick had its own app store long ago.
Anyway, Go iphone!!! right BGR
RIM is behind the curve (heheh) on this for sure, but better late then never, I guess.
@Perspective – no, Palm and Handango mostly sucked, but my point was that the Apple App Store wasn’t a copy of those, just as much as RIM’s App World isn’t a copy of Apple’s app store.
The basic point is, is the iPod a copy of every mp3 player before it? Is the iPhone a copy of every touch smartphone before it? No, they’re products that Apple thought it could make and compete in the market with. Same with RIM.
The case could also be made that pre-8100, RIM really didn’t have a market for 3rd-party apps. They made business phones that kicked ass at messaging – they were specific-purpose devices. Post-8100, they do multimedia, browsing, and a host of other consumer-market things that their previous corporate niche didn’t want or need.
So yeah, it appears they’re behind on this, but they really didn’t have the demand until they got into consumer phones (Pearl, Curve, Bold, Storm, etc.)
I don’t think they were taking shots at the fact RIM is making an OTA store, more that the name app world sounds so similar to app store….People here have to settle down.
What a hoot. Apple’s AppStore is not some major “revoltion” – that’s like saying download.com is the only site that should be relevant and any other site that features downloads is irrelevant.
Will RIM have the same scope and app count? No – does that make it any less capable to serve the needs of BLACKBERRY users? No.
Apple people have this %%#$% hardon for iTunes and that it’s some fantastic evolution to providing media. All iTunes and AppStore do is provide Apple $$$$. Why don’t they allow any developer to host their own OTA download link? Why do you think likely 50% of iPhone users jailbreak?
The fact is if you look hard at the actual worthwhile apps iPhone sports a good number are already on Blackberry and Apple marketed them better (and has all these blog writers, reviewers fawning over them every second). Blackberry even dare I say if often has a better version of the app with ability to use the GPS, run in the background etc.
If AppWorld or whatever they call it showcases quality apps that extend its functionality beyond its rock solid email / PIM management it only brings helps consumers see Blackberry more then an email device.
I’d rather have a few hundred SOLID applications then the swill Apple has now. Considering recent reports show less then 1% of users keep an app they downloaded or use it more then the 1st time it speaks to how much utter crap is on AppStore. Every single app can be re-coded to other platforms expect the ones that utilize the MUI functionality which I have yet to see anything outside of games that really provides anything. iPhone has basically plateaued and the only people excited about it are current users who will be the primary group buying whatever new “version” Apple annoucnes in June. Maybe by then they can figure out MMS, copy and paste and running apps in the background. Likely in typical Apple fashion you’ll need to NEW iPhone to do advanced things like that.
^^^Flamebait.
Why the lifeless and lackluster title Zach. You act like you didn’t even want to do the story. If it perturbs you that much to report on things concerning RIM, let somebody else do it and quit being a c*_k!! Btw, Nokia’s gonna have one too. Are you upset about that as well??
Well said….
While I’m glad RIM is getting ready to introduce this, can they rather spend the time to first get out a stable OS for the Storm?
I don’t understand the snide remarks regarding the name of store – AppStore versus App World – whats the big deal? Should RIM not offer an application centre because Apple has one already? This site is ridiculous sometimes.
If the kindle integration had came to the BB before Apple todays headline would have read “RIM Shameless Jumps on Amazon Bandwagon” rather than “Amazon Kindle Comes to iPhone”.
I love almost all things Apple, love most of the content of this site, but sometimes the writing is juvenile.
Zach’s bias aside, this is good news because i’m winning the Bb Bold giveaway