BlackBerry Launches Its Own App Store

As expected, and despite the fact it did so on April 1st, RIM on Wednesday launched the BlackBerry App World, the RIM answer to Apple's own App Store.

BlackBerry App World, besides being the store itself, is an app you download from RIM's site.
System requirements for the app:

1. BlackBerry® Device Software version 4.2 or higher
2. BlackBerry smartphones with trackballs or SurePress™ touch screen
3. BlackBerry App World is only available to customers in US, Canada and UK and may not be available on all networks

BlackBerry App World offers the following categories:

• Entertainment
• Games
• Maps and Navigation
• Music and Video
• News and Weather
• Productivity and Utilities
• Professional and Business
• Reference and eBooks
• Social Networking and Sharing
• Personal Finance and Banking
• Personal Health and Wellness
• Sports and Recreation
• Travel

While emulating much of the App Store, there are differences. For one, while supporting both free and paid-for apps, the lowest price on BlackBerry App World is $2.99, as opposed to $0.99 on the App Store.

Secondly, you have to use PayPal to pay for apps. Don't have a PayPal account? You need to get one.

Finally, developers get 80% of revenue, 10% more than Apple offers. While that's bound to attract developers, the fact remains that the iPhone is still the hot ticket in mobile phones.

We'll see how this store works out.