RIM’s Blackberry App World opened its doors early this week and eager Blackberry owners began their onslaught (including curious onlookers like me). I have an older Blackberry (which I don’t really use anymore) and, as it turns out, only devices with trackballs plus the Storm are supported by App World. I borrowed a Blackberry Curve, though, to play around with it. So how was the experience?
Installation is quick and you’ll be shopping for apps in no time. UI is very attractive with a pretty streamlined design. You can find apps via the Featured Items on the rotating carousel right smack in the center of the screen or through various menu options, including Categories and Top Downloads. There’s also a Search facility.
Apps are easy enough to find, although you’ll have to click through one more time to see a screenshot and reviews. RIM claims there are over 1,000 apps available in the store right now. Since many of them are only compatible with only a few devices, the number of apps you see will depend on the handset that you own. We expect this number to grow exponentially as App World use becomes more prevalent.
Payment is processed through Paypal, so if you have a Paypal account, billing is a matter of typing in your login details. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to fire up the PC to make one – you can’t create an account from a Blackberry. If you hate Paypal, like a lot of people do, better wait for mobile carrier billing RIM is promising they’re working on.
As unattractive as the payment system is, the installation process is even worse. Blackberry handsets just weren’t built for third party apps as you’ll get tons (I mean, TONS) of Permission questions before being able to install a single app successfully – with some apps being more annoying than others. Another big problem is the memory – Blackberry devices don’t come with the same 8GB flash drive the iPhone does. As such, you’ll be lucky if you can fit 20 apps into whatever model you have.
Of course, I won’t expect these same problems to be present in future Blackberry handsets. It should be annoying for owners of older handsets, though. Overall, I think the Blackberry App World will be great next year – right now, though, it won’t be enough to satiate your app hunger.
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