Earlier this week, RIM made its application store official. Formerly known as the Blackberry Application Center, the service will now be known as App World and handset owners interested on the actual launch can register to get updates from the official site. Sadly, the new name (intending to sound more hip, perhaps) actually feels like a step down from the original, which mirrored the business-like personality of a Blackberry handset more convincingly.
There aren’t much details yet, although RIM has announced the supported payment processor (Paypal) as well as released an official breakdown of the pricing structure. Basically, paid apps will sell at a floor price of $2.99 with a ceiling of $9.99. As you can surmise, there will be no .99 cent apps on Blackberry, a potentially serious problem in the long run.
Similarly intriguing is the announcement of plans for a second application store for Apple’s iPhone platform. Instead of an offering from the Cupertino crew, however, the new store will be an evolution from the popular jailbroken package repository Cydia.
Currently, paid jailbreak apps like Snapture and PDANet will need to be downloaded from their own servers and paid for via their own systems. Developer Jay Freeman, who authored the widely-used “hub”, announced his intentions to turn Cydia into a full-featured app store, complete with a payment processing feature for coders wishing to sell their wares.
Apple will likely have something a lot to say about that, although, they’re keeping mum at the moment. Anticipating what he knows will come, Freeman has already hired a lawyer as he forges on with the process of instituting what is essentially a direct competitor to the App Store, on a platform that Apple has already spoken very much against. Will a Cydia Store finally convince you to jailbreak your handset?
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Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran