BlackBerry App World goes live

BlackBerry App World, the online applications store from Research in Motion is live.

Blackberry App World is now live

Like the iTunes App Store and the planned Nokia App Store, the BlackBerry App World hosts thousands of applications across categories. Some of the programs on BlackBerry App World are available for a minor fee, while most are free. BlackBerry will share revenues from the BlackBerry App World service with the telecom carriers.

BlackBerry App World features applications across categories: games, current affairs, weather updates, music and entertainment, movies and several hundred more knick-knacks. BlackBerry App World gives developers a platform to showcase their wares, at the same time offering users a centralised store to access programs suitable for their BlackBerry handheld devices.

BlackBerry mobile phones with the operating system above version 4.2 can use BlackBerry App World. However, App World will not be available in India. Research in Motion has opened the BlackBerry App World service only in the US, Canada and UK. Here too, not all carriers may be providing the service, says a note on the BlackBerry website. Customers outside UK in Europe, Japan and India will have to wait.

BlackBerry App World is available to those with a PayPal account, which makes buying applications on the app store a breeze. Before you download the BlackBerry App World on to your handheld, make sure the service is supported in your country, the handset is compatible and if the service provider is fine with it.

All latest BlackBerrys can be used to access the App Store. Access to the BlackBerry App World is free. Handhelds which are compatible with the App World are:

BlackBerry® Bold™ 9000 smartphone
BlackBerry® Storm™ smartphone
BlackBerry® Pearl™ Flip Series
BlackBerry® Curve™ 8300 Series
BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900 smartphone
BlackBerry® 8800 Series
BlackBerry® Pearl™ Series.

Old-model BlackBerrys with Trackwheel navigation are not supported, RIM said.

Once you have downloaded and installed the BlackBerry App World, it opens a store showing featured applications of the week. The display changed every week. You can browse through sections like entertainment, games, weather, navigation etc to find the program of your choice. Themes are not available for download from the BlackBerry App World so far. Once you click on the App World Icon, a display lists the top downloads, specific to your country. There are also sections like My Downloads, Search and several categories to browse through.

BlackBerry anticipates that about 1000 applications will be available for download at the time of launch. BlackBerry is debuting the online app store at the CTIA Wireless Conference, which kicked off today.

Applications which have already been put up on the BlackBerry App World at the time of store launch include the AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Bloomberg News, Gameloft, Facebook, HRS Hotel Organizer, ICQ® for BlackBerry, iheartradio, Livestrong, Lonely Planet, French Phrasebook, Myspace, The New York Times Web Shortcut, Pandora, Salesforce, Shazam, Slacker Radio, VH1 Watch and Discuss , MTV, Viigo, Windows Live™ Messenger, WorldMate, TicketMaster and Yahoo!® Messenger. QUickPlay, a Canadian company said that they will soon start offering an application which can be used to watch movies on BlackBerry. Initially, the service will be available only in Canada. The movies will be beamed across Wi-Fi networks, which are short-range, high-frequency networks.

Many applications on the BlackBerry App World are already available for downloads from developers websites. Telenav, a GPS software maker, announced that the company’s applications are now available on the BlackBerry App World service. Said Sal Dhanani of TeleNav: “TeleNav GPS Navigator is a very popular application on BlackBerry smartphones. Now that it’s available for purchase on BlackBerry App World, customers have another convenient way to quickly sign up for the latest versions of our service directly from their BlackBerry smartphone.”

RIM has devised separate BlackBerry App World applications for users of different models of BlackBerrys. This means that only those applications compatible with the handheld will be allowed to be downloaded. Advanced models, like the Storm gets to access a larger number of applications than, say BlackBerry Curve. Since App World recognises what applications are compatible with the handheld, you won’t be left holding programs which dont run on your mobile phone.

Software developers who want to participate in the BlackBerry App World will have to pay $200 to Research in Motion. The developers also get to keep 80% of the revenue generated by selling paid applications. This is definitely a better deal for developers coding BlackBerry programs, since developers for Apple iPhone iTunes App Store get only 70%. Apple iTunes App Store, meanwhile, has scored 300 million downloads since the store was opened. The App Store made several other handset manufacturers think on similar lines. Now Nokia and Microsoft are also planning to open online hubs hosting compatible and bonafide applications, which users of their products can download conveniently.

Said Mike Lazaridis, president of Research in Motion: “The BlackBerry platform provides a truly unparalleled mobile experience for millions of people and we are thrilled today to enhance that experience with a new app store that helps connect consumers with developers and carriers. BlackBerry App World aggregates a wide variety of personal and business apps in a way that makes it very easy for consumers to discover and download the apps that suit them while preserving the appropriate IT architecture and controls required by our enterprise customers.”