Better late than never, we suppose -- joining
Apple,
Google,
Microsoft, and
Palm, RIM's officially opened the
BlackBerry Application Storefront to submissions, just a hair after the December launch we'd originally heard. It sounds like RIM's going to be doing more an Apple-style
closed market than an Android-style free-for-all: apps will be "considered" for inclusion in the Storefront, which is scheduled to go live in March at CTIA. The lockdown's not a big shocker considering RIM's corporate userbase, but we're can't say we're huge fans of this new trend toward closed stores. In any event, it sounds like RIM's seeing big potential for its fledging shop -- co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently told a panel that he's expecting "dozens of music apps" in the store, which he thinks will be able to capitalize on the (sigh) "birth of digital music 2.0." We're not sure exactly what Jim means -- he mostly said things like "remarkable revenue enhancement strategy" and "radical and dramatic enhancing set of opportunities" -- but we're all for shaking up the music business, so bring it on. It can't be any worse than
SlotMusic.
[Via
Boy Genius Report]
Read - BlackBerry Application Storefront submission page
Read - Balsillie wants to shake up music
posted Jan 20th 2009 8:02AM
The AppStore still has a better interface!!
Your Mom has a better interface
Dude... you haven't even used it yet.
Ugh.
Paul, I agree that Apple's App Store is probably the main reason we're seeing these pop up on other devices. But don't kid yourself; they aren't only copying Apple, they're copying practically every business that has ever existed.
You could say that Target copied Wal-Mart, or that Ubuntu copied Microsoft, or that Publix copied Winn-Dixie, or that Dish copied DirecTV, or that Sharp copied Sony, or that Sprint copied AT&T, or that Mom-and-Pop-BBQ copied BBQ-King, or that America copied Rome, etc. etc. It happens. It's called the free market, and the consumers win because of it.
P.S. I don't have a clue who copied whom above... I just made up crap... but you get the point.
It doesn't matter if someone is copying good ideas. Good ideas should be adopted by as many companies as possible. You people act like your entire life is defined by the lowercase i in front of everything you own. If someone made a better device you'd cover your ears and shut your eyes so you wouldn't have to consider it.
As far as the store being "closed" at least the phone itself isn't closed like the iPhone is. You can install any app from any source that you want.
@Paul Chapel
What are you Applgasming about? You're a PC, remember? Check out your name.
You can't really blame Paul for the way he is. If you rearrange the letters in his name you get Apple Chula. Assuming that Apple is a proper name, which it is, this in Spanish roughly translates to, "Apple, my true love."
I really wanted it to come out to where it said something like, "Paul is an iTard." I guess the last part is kinda implied, so it really doesn't matter so much.
As for Engadget; if you want to protect yourself and others from the circus that is Paul Chapel, you should preface each article with the statement:
"We at Engadget want to thank Apple for creating such a glorious iPhone so that [brand X] could have the miraculous insight to create their new [irrelevant product]. All hail Steve Jobs!"
I think they came up with his name because Chapel rhymes with Apple.
He's a good character and a nice change from iEye and Clak; at least he sounds reasonable and types neatly. But the "I'm a PC user, but only want to talk about their bad points, and I'll only talk about Apple's god points" thing they wrote for him is a bit disingenuous.
Is the blackberry OS based on linux because the appstore looks very similar to the interface of the synaptic package manager found in Ubuntu
BB OS is based on Java.
and to all, Jim's word isn't reliable. He ones said he is close to buying out a NHL franchise and bring it to Canada. Nothing has been accomplished so far.
I had wondered if I was the only one that noticed that. It either uses synaptic as a base, or they used the artwork from it. Either way, you are spot on, it looks exactly like synaptic.
P.S. synaptic isn't specific to Ubuntu, it is included with many distros.
Good Lord, there aren't enough options for music already? Seriously, how many hours a day are people listening to music? 23? 22? Does anybody enjoy some quiet time - EVER - anymore?
What makes listening to music sexy on your BB is the A2DP support something other players lack which makes using a BB in your car rather comfortable together with the excellent network reliability.
That said I´m rather happy to see that apps gets centralized though I don´t hope it becomes necessity as too many apps are written for companies specificly.
Is there going to be a better apps interface for Nokia anytime soon?
birth of digital music 2.0? Haha..just like CEO of Creative? LOL :) an iPod(iPhone) killer? LOL laugh my ass off.
Anyone else annoyed by the two-point-o moniker?
2.0 is SO 1.0
Now I know why RIM is always one step in the past. The "birth of digital music", I believe, was when P2P, file sharing and piracy took hold. We hit "2.0" when closed DRM wrapped stores like the iTunes Music Store was birthed from Apple. If we continue to play the point game, "3.0" would be when DRM FREE stores sprung up like Amazon and more recently iTunes.
Yeah - RIM's BB was a great, innovative product some 5-6 years ago, but they've been lagging behind anyone else for the past two years, failing to deliver at least one state of the art phone. Their OS remains a sluggish, memory-leaking nightmare with fuck all in apps for it. This store comes too late and is too little to save much....
i've had a play on the uk storm - and i can't believe they have actually released it. b4 moving onto the storefront shouldn't they sort out their firmware?
Interestingly, the icons in the Storefront match those in Linux's Synaptic Package Manager which serves a very similar purpose.
i've had a play on the uk storm - and i can't believe they have actually released it. b4 moving onto the storefront shouldn't they sort out their firmware?
Many people are bitching and moaning about "closed storefronts", but even with this closed style of app inclusion you get every type of Crap-app under the sun... could you image how many MORE useless apps would be in the stores if they didn't screen everything!
You guys said it yourself:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5133070/iphone-app-store-hits-500-million-downloads-we-break-down-the-numbers
@ Paul
I believe an Andorid user can install any app the want by messing with a few default settings. If anyone would disallow malicious apps, it would be the carriers, but that doesn't make the operating system any less open.
Beyond that, I think it's unfair to portray proponents of open source software as you have. Proprietary software is not evil by any stretch, but it's not always fun to put up with the limitations that are put onto users.
But Serryl, if proprietary software is not evil, then why is Apple routinely cast as such by the anti-Apple crowd here based on that reason alone? The number of comments on this site which are nothing more than re-workings of "open store is heavenly and good, Apple's closed store is bad for everyone" is astounding, and sad.
And I wonder, I really do, at the author's comment of "can't say we're huge fans of this new trend toward closed stores", because it suggests they have never shopped at any store anywhere before.
Not one single retail outlet is "open" - they all decide what they will stock and what they will sell, and if the owner doesn't like something they won't sell it. Many stores have policies in place about the goods they will sell, what quality etc they have to be - and they do not have policies that say, "if you want to sell anything at all just bring it in here and we will sell it, no questions asked."
Funny how when Apple runs its store like any other store in the world, it gets pilloried for it. Even funnier when this craziness is adopted by Engadget authors, to the point that they forget that ALL stores throughout history - except the new Android one - have been closed, so it is hardly a "new trend".
You can get hardcore porn and weed at walmart, if you meet the right people.
Whoops meant to post this link...
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/app-store-hits-500-million-downloads-thanks-ifart/
you guys really do have the exact same articles as each other don't you!...
Leave it to a bunch of Canadians to be several years behind in monikers and several months behind on opening a storefront.
As far as it being a Closed Store, I think it's great. I mean I already have to sift through enough junk in the App Store on my iPhone, I would fear even loading the App Store up if it wasn't controlled like it is. Open is good, but Closed is probably better with so many younger people being able to code and just submitting junk.
Plus, if an author is serious about his/her/their application they are going to take the steps required to make it suitable for the environment it is being developed for. I am glad though that so many companies are following in Apple's foot steps in this mobile store front era and giving them some competition to hopefully make everyone want to compete for the title of the best and hopefully this will also lead to better products and interfaces on down the road.
BlackBerry may be a few steps behind, but they are still steps in the right direction. Now if they just ditch that hideous clicking Storm and introduce a better Touch Screen device we will have it made.
What the hell is your issue with Canadians?
Erm, in the span of about 20 seconds you went from ... thinking Canadians were behind the times to applauding them for heading in the right direction. Should I be insulted?
Look, you just elected a black President who's 100 times smarter than a) the guy he beat and b) the guy he's replacing.
These are at once really tumultuous and really inspirational times we're living in. Don't screw up America's pitiful reputation with this flamebait shit.
No, RIM will not take out Apple. Guess what, every other company in the market is getting pushed around. Does that mean every other country is behind the times? Because the iPhone kills the Samsung Whatever, you think Koreans are low-tech and behind the times?
Wake up. This is Apple we're talking about. Of course RIM is getting killed.
Funny how BB users used to be too busy tapping out business email to worry about apps. You guys need to spend less time on blogs, and get dates.
I don't know if anyone's said this already cause i didn't read all the comments.
It doesn't matter if the app store is closed. The phone itself is not closed, and you can install any app from any store. That is something the iPhone CAN'T do without being jail broken first.
Can they use Ubuntu's icon for package management without problems? At least now I know they doesn't even have competent designers capable of creating a icon for them
I take great exception to the comment about RIM not having "competent" designers. One of my best friends (for life) helps design the BB icons and he is a genius. Not one of those closet geniuses either, but a great guy with a great love of life and a fabulous artist to boot. He described to me the thinking that goes into building the BB icons and it's not trivial.
The icon for the AppCentre shown on that image is definitely from a screenshot from the Storm simulator running an early release of the software.
I think the closed market for the Blackberry storefront is actually a GOOD idea, as long as RIM doesn't lock down the current market place. The problem with Apple's closed marketplace is that you have to jailbreak your phone in order to install third party apps Apple doesn't like.
It could provide a unified place for most users to find apps, currently you have to climb through hoops googling and hitting blogs to find useful apps. By having a comfortable place for average users to find applications would make it more attractive for small app developers. For those who don't want to be part of the store or whose apps aren't approved, they would still be free to market them much like apps are sold today.
It could also be a boon to BES administrators by having a "more trusted" source of apps.
And Apple hates Apps that crash your phone, and are generally offensive. The kind of stuff you're looking for?
Honestly, there maybe a small degree of editorializing (its not like Apple doesn't know something about software) but you can't see the forest for the trees. The big picture is that they kick out Apps that don't work, Apps that are creepy/weird/perverted, or Apps that generally don't work.
On Android, these treasures are free to reign lol. If only people bought Android phones.
Blackberry? They don't know software. Sorry guys. Go hang out with Sony.. "Programming for Dummies" in hand..
And Apple hates Apps that crash your phone, and are generally offensive. The kind of stuff you're looking for?
Honestly, there maybe a small degree of editorializing (its not like Apple doesn't know something about software) but you can't see the forest for the trees. The big picture is that they kick out Apps that don't work, Apps that are creepy/weird/perverted, or Apps that generally don't work.
On Android, these treasures are free to reign lol. If only people bought Android phones.
Blackberry? They don't know software. Sorry guys. Go hang out with Sony.. "Programming for Dummies" in hand..
I download from the Torrents for my Pearl.. some pretty neat little apps on there.. but I agree an app store would be much easier to use!
Also, I think 2 years ago most blackberry users were business people.. but now every friggin soccer mom has one and i hear them say "BBM me".. im like wtf if BBM.. and they state "Blackberry Message" like its second nature.. weirdos.. but blackberry whether they like it or not have entered the regular consumer side of sales.
They need to watch the app store.. because regular consumers will download 30 apps then wonder why their phones work slow etc.. they dont even understand how to end a phone call half the time.. let alone download and install apps correctly.. most people just keep hitting "next, next next, continue, finish" then wonder why the program starts up everytime they turn on their phone/computer and wonder why they have 50 icons on their desktops..
I'm one of those people. So clue me in.
Thanks
The Blackberry's Cool Factor is a -100. Don't see myself using this ever...
I hope RIM addresses the limited memory issue before rolling out the Storm:
http://sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=180337
Also, sounds like you'll need a PayPal account to buy apps, at least initially. This may or may not thrill Blackberry users.
http://sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181187
I meant: "I hope RIM addresses the limited memory issue before rolling out the App Store."
This is great news for BlackBerry users. There's a slew of apps out there, but several of them are way over-priced. $15 for an Alarm Clock app? This store should inspire competition and hopefully BB users will see prices on apps go down.
This guy just made me embarrassed to own a Storm. Thanks a lot, Jimmy.