BlackBerry App World – Where is the news?
May 14th, 2009 | by Chris Speight |
It has now been well over a month since BlackBerry App World has gone live, and for the most part… there has been no news, the most exciting thing I’ve seen come out of the new App World is the amazon application, which isn’t saying a whole lot. It has only been a relatively short time, and I don’t expect it to be on any Apple level anytime soon, but the lack of information about the service seems to be a poor sign. Is it simply that BlackBerry users already get their applications elsewhere or is the service just prohibitively expense for most people?
Then there is the other side of the coin, that many people with Corporate devices may not be able to use the application, given stringent restrictions on what they can and can not do with their device. I’m sure the App World store is pretty high up on the list of “not allowed” by most corporations due to potential security leaks, and these corporate accounts make up for a large number of BlackBerry users, a fact which much dissuade a great many developer.
The other major contributing factor is that BlackBerry users have long been application users, long before this App World application came out, and while it offers convenience and direct downloads, it’s ultimately a minor upgrade for the majority of BlackBerry users who seem to still download applications the old fashioned way: manually.
Ultimately, I believe one of the largest factors is the terrible price structure. Free applications are great, but when the pricing starts at $2.99 you really can’t compete with the other marketplaces that sell in volume. People would much rather pay $0.99 than $2.99 for similar applications, and going off past trends, it’s those applications that fall in the $1-$2.50 range that seem to gross the most amount of money, people just don’t want to pay $3 for an application that may or may not work, that entry fee is too much when people are used to free or a buck.
I really think RIM needs to take a step back and examine their marketplace strategy: is not having dollar fart applications worth the App World not being a flop?
