Blackberry App Store * Not * A Carrier Route-Around?
At last week’s Telephony Live event in Chicago, panelist Thomas Howe tried to downplay some of the iPhone App Store love in the room and told the audience to look at RIM and the Blackberry for another, more enterprise-focused application strategy.
Well don’t look now, but a Blackberry app store is apparently just around the corner as well, if we’re to believe the leaks (courtesy of Crackberry.com). The store will be on-device, which, beyond the obvious UI advances Apple has brought to the game, is really the biggest game-changer with ALL the new app stores — easy access to apps right on the device.
Even more intriguingly, RIM has apparently found room for mobile operators to be part of its app strategy, says Crackberry.com:
While the iPhone App Store is the one-and-only hub for developers to sell apps and consumers to purchase them, it seems RIM is really providing the Application Center as an additional tool for carriers to more easily distribute their supported apps (think carrier billing for apps that are not free). At this point I’m not expecting to see thousands of BlackBerry Apps available for purchase on-device anytime soon (carriers tend to be pretty stringent in terms of what they’re going to support).
The opposite of the apparent RIM strategy isn’t Apple but Android, whose app store will have a very low bar of participation, in keeping with its open source, Web-centric focus.
It makes good sense, if it’s true, for RIM to keep close ties with mobile operators. Carriers are good partners — and sales channels — for not only RIM devices but Blackberry push email service. And with a more enterprise focus, operators will be able to help market, distribute and possibly even help bill and support Blackberry apps.
It’s good to see variations on the app store — especially ones that aren’t all about routing around mobile operators.
Not to say there won’t be RIM route-arounds: an independent, on-device store — BerryStore.com – just went into beta.
May the best apps strategy win.
