Now you do not need an iPhone to listen to the Internet radio, play a simulation game and use Facebook together. A BlackBerry can do it all for you along with BlackBerry App World.

Now, you will find many smart phone makers planning to launch or have launched their own application stores which host all types of free and paid software which can be downloaded to the handset. The trend was started by Apple with its App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Google Inc. has one such store for phones that support its Android operating system. Right now it has only one such phone T-Mobile G1. Nokia has several App Store which it wants to consolidate into one. Palm Inc. is working on the Palm App Catalog for its upcoming Pre handset. Microsoft Corp. is planning one App Store for those phones which use its Windows Mobile OS.

So, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) announced App World early this month. This seems to be a major change as even though third-party programs were available for BlackBerrys but they were not listed in one place.

App World will entice more people to use BlackBerry, as people find it convenient to use the phone for which lots of applications are available at one place.

App Store has very limited number of applications far lower than Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market. So, first it needs to grow faster and bigger. Then only it can become a strong contender in the booming smart phone application market.

Good

  1. You can download the App World software free from RIM’s site. The software has a simple design, easy to navigate and it works on all recent BlackBerrys.
  2. The payment system used here is PayPal and so you can easily buy the applications from this store using your free PayPal account.
  3. The visual appeal is somehow better than Google’s Android Market.
  4. This App Store includes some popular applications available in Apple App Store and Google’s Android Market. E.g. app for social network MySpace and song-identifying program Shazam.
  5. You can browse the apps by title, category, and popularity or through the “Featured Items” list. Some of such apps are a $12 mobile version of the popular video game “Guitar Hero World Tour,” the free travel simplification program WorldMate Live.
  6. RIM says it has more than 1,000 applications. The apps that you see depend on your device. However the number is better than the 500 applications that Apple had at launch. (Now Apple’s store has more than 25,000 and Google has more than 2,300 apps)

Bad

  1. The starting prices on the store are three times those for Apple and Google programs.
  2. RIM will need to improve its selection of apps. Probably it can include some more apps for the professional and business category, personal finance and banking and mapping. As more people use BlackBerry for work so these categories will be more suitable.
  3. No application is available for watching videos on YouTube or for posting short messages on Twitter in the App World. It has got some third party apps but not dedicated ones.
  4. The prices of the applications are high. Besides the free apps, the prices of these apps start at $3 whereas price starts at 99 cents for both Apple and Google.
  5. You can try out some of the apps before buying but not all. The costs of some of the apps are higher in App World in comparison to Google’s or Apple’s application stores. E.g. “Guitar Hero” game costs $12 in App World but the same game is available on Android Market for $5.

Some of the applications that are available here are -

  • Snap2Twitter
  • Internet radio service Pandora
  • News browser Viigo.
  • Free Ringtones Creator
  • Guitar Hero

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