Gadget, Mobile Phone, Computer Blog

After watching Apple’s enormous success with the iTunes App Store with the iPhone and iPod touch, Research in Motion today unveiled its own similar store, called BlackBerry App World. I downloaded the App World app to my BlackBerry Curve and assisted a co-worker to add it to his BlackBerry Storm. With mixed results we got it installed on both.

The first two attempts to install App World on my Curve failed with an error message telling me my BlackBerry did not meet the minimum system requirements. Only thing is my BlackBerry Curve does meet the minimum system requirements as it runs 4.3. The third time was the charm in my case, as it worked and the App World app installed.

System Requirements

To ensure that your BlackBerry® smartphone will support BlackBerry App World^TM, it must have the following system requirements:

• BlackBerry® Device Software version 4.2 or higher
• BlackBerry smartphones with trackballs or SurePress^TM touch screen
• BlackBerry App World is only available to customers in US, Canada and UK and may not be available on all networks
• To use BlackBerry App World, you require a service plan that includes access to the BlackBerry® Browser

How to check your operating system from your BlackBerry smartphone:

• Click “Options” from your BlackBerry smartphone
• Select “About”, then click. Your BlackBerry smartphone operating system information will be displayed

Installing it on the Storm was a little easier. But after downloading and installing it, instead of showing up in Applications, it ended up installed in Downloads. Not intuitive or logical. To install it on your BlackBerry point your BlackBerry browser to www.blackberry.com/appworld/download.

In my opinion, RIM’s App World store is adequate, but not as slick as Apple’s App Store. I hate to compare these two stores, but since RIM has copied the concept from Apple it is inevitable that they will be compared. RIM’s store allows for Blackberry owners to discover and more easier purchase and install apps on their mobile device. It makes me wonder how many BlackBerries in the wild there are that no not have a single app installed that did not come with the unit.

App World is only available for relatively recent BlackBerry models-the ones with trackballs and the Storm. Side wheels BlackBerry owners are out of luck. Apps are organized in categories and RIM promises about 1,000 apps within the first few weeks (not all apps will work on all BlackBerry models however).

You will need a PayPal account to purchase apps. Pricing seems a bit limiting as there are free apps, but the cheapest apps for purchase is $2.99 and up. There are no apps that will sell for less than this. This is triple the price on many apps that Apple’s App Store sells. There are a surprising number of $20, $30 and $40 apps on App World. So if you are used to pricing from Apple’s store, be prepared to spend more for less in many cases. As many of the apps I tried out are crude as compared to many of the iPhone apps.

I downloaded about a dozen apps. Some I liked like Pandora, Slacker, IHeartRadio,vlingo and Bloomberg. What annoyed me was some so-called apps like MLB.com, Google and Fox News was nothing more than a bookmark, that launches the BlackBerry browser! Is a “bookmark” an application, REALLY? Sure these are free apps, but they are not even apps! I downloaded AIM, Where, Facebook, WSJ, Google Maps, Flycast, Shazam, and a few others. The Associated Press app that cost $2.99 did not work properly and was a crude version as compared with the free AP app on the iPhone.

I did not find any of the apps I tried to match the similar iPhone versions in slickness, UI, features, or ease of use. You can only install apps to your BlackBerry’s internal memory so you are limited, instead of the flash memory card you may have installed. You can store your apps online, but this is hardly convenient.

RIM will find it hard to compete with the 30,000 apps that Apple has available for iPhone and iPod touch owners. The App World has gaping holes such as no apps for Amazon Kindle, a full-featured MLB.com app, high-end games, Simplify Media, etc.

As I am sure that more and better featured apps will come, and the App World moves RIM into the platform competition. Developers however will have to struggle with many different models of BlackBerry, an inferior SDK from RIM and complicated Java platform.

BlackBerry owners will be happy to see the App World as they should. Of course I own a BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and a Nokia so my comparisons will not be so familiar or relevant to the average BlackBerry owner.

All I can say is I am so glad I own an iPhone!