Blackberry App World launched

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/appworld/

by seren6ipity • 17 years ago

13 13 17 years ago

na.blackberry.com

DanHulton2• 17 years ago

Which is all well and good, but I can't seem to access the damn thing.

Or rather, my device isn't supported. Curve 8330, bought it on Monday and was rather looking forward to this.

Perhaps it's the fault of my carrier... I have a hard time thinking they're restricting the 8330 from the App World, as it's a rather recent handset.

mshafrir• 17 years ago

FWIW, I'm on the same phone and can access and run the app.

DanHulton2• 17 years ago

Hm. I shall have to call Virgin Mobile on the way home and find out WTF.

Thanks.

pxlpshr3• 17 years ago

BlackBerry is doing something I wish Apple had done. Their $200 application fee (Apple = $100) entitles you to only 10 applications. Your next 10 require an additional $200 payment.

Had Apple done this, I think you would see far less junk apps that are repurposed fifteen ways to Sunday. A lot of indies and students would probably think twice about releasing useless crap if submissions were limited and had value.

Most .99 apps that are not on the Top Charts make less than ~$75 a month.

gcheong2• 17 years ago

How exactly are you defining "junk"? I think Apple should allow all apps, beyond those that are malicious or overly resource intensive, and let the market decide what defines "useless crap". I suspect most of those .99 apps are developers getting their feet wet learning the system of how to put a paid app up which is why they tend to drop off rather quickly but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be there. What I find more annoying than anything about the app store is that Apple thinks it can be the arbiter of taste for their users when it comes to 3rd party applications.

mxcl4• 17 years ago

Honestly, from experience I know they hardly reject any apps. There's some serious publicity surrounding a few keys app rejections here and there (hell ours was rejected once, Last.fm), but really, they reject for technical reasons. Not due to "taste", and even then they weight it up, it doesn't happen much.

pxlpshr3• 17 years ago

As I said above, the AppStore should not be a "free market"... it should be a PREMIUM market and the free market should exists outside of the store where developers and consumers can buy and sell iPhone apps as they see fit. (IMO)

The AppStore doesn't scale for a true free market, it just doesn't and it's certainly not designed to fit the needs of software developers who are forced to use the store. There's no relationship management tools, there's no way to track marketing effectiveness, app reviews are not like comments where developers can easily respond to mis-informed consumers (or worse, developer cronies leaving wrong feedback), etc. I could go on, really.

The more popular it gets, the more broken and junk ridden it will become without some regulation.

mxcl4• 17 years ago

I think it'll kill the market. You need that experimentation zone. We just released our app on there. But I'd never release any hobby projects to their store. It's not just the price point that stops me. I can afford that if I must. But it means there won't be any open source/hobbyist community developing. And that's what I want to be a part of.

paulgb• 17 years ago

The difference is that with blackberry, the app market isn't the exclusive distribution channel. Open source/hobbyist stuff is best left to other channels anyway.

pxlpshr3• 17 years ago

Being limited by a $200 application fee to get 10 more slots is NOT going to kill a market for quality-focused developers (indie or not). I'm sorry but that's hardly the case... In fact, we would happily pay ~$10k to publish to iTunes if it meant half the stuff on the store would not be there.

That said, I really wish Apple had let apps run wild. As an alternative, developers could apply for iTunes Publishing and give up 30% + extensive review process. This would let Apple pick and choose without criticism, while "experimenters" could keep the clutter off the store but in a true free market economy where if it was truly that great — it would be recognized with or without Apple's support.

My guess is the Blackberry market will be nerfed by inconsistent hardware that will require extensive testing to ensure a consistent experience for all consumers. Have you developed a Blackberry web-app? Have fun, it's a nightmare... especially when almost all the user-agents report a unique browser specific to the phone. And that's when things were relatively simple.

It's in this regard (and others) that the iPhone wins, and while critics will find fault in a closed/commoditized hardware device — it's truly one of the primary reasons for so much interest in the iPhone (though possibly not recognized given the influx of 'new' software developers). If we had a thousand+ configurations to deal with like Windows Mobile or Blackberry, we would likely not be publishing out of our apartment unless we had funding of some sort.

Look, I'm all about experimenting and hobbyist developers and there's really not much stopping you now... build a few apps, install them on your phone and friends w/ ad hoc distros. But there's really no reason that many of these apps need to clutter a market place. It's like putting a .99 store in a respected city mall, which would never happen be/c there is a gatekeeper preventing crap from leasing space and degrading the shopping experience for customers who go to the mall with an expectation.

That said, I really wish Apple never let iFart on the store. Complete free markets tend to be overrated and resemble anarchy.

Blackberry App World launched

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