Blackberry App World launches

Andrew Williams

The Blackberry application store has opened, and it's called App World. It'll features over 1000 applications

Published on Apr 1, 2009

RIM has launched the Blackberry's answer to Apple's app store, App World. Blackberry users can download the portal interface itself direct from the Blackberry website. It'll have over 1000 applications on it by the end of the week.

At the head of the interface it a features applications section that'll change from week to week, while there will also be an easily-accessible Top Downloads list and the no-brainer search function.

You'll be able to recommend applications to friends from within the store itself, and you can post reviews and star ratings for downloaded apps. Some applications will have to be paid for, but we imagine that there will also be a hefty barrel full of freebies to keep your fingers busy too.

Not only does App World ofer more favourable rates to developers than Apple's App Store, it also passes on some of the revenue to mobile carriers. Although these advantages will encourage some developers, we'd imagine the success of the store will still be dictates by whether it captures Blackberry users' imaginations in the same way Apple's runaway success story does.

We'll have a more in-depth hands on with the store later today.