

Blackberry App World launched - seren6ipity
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/appworld/

======
DanHulton
Which is all well and good, but I can't seem to access the damn thing.

Or rather, my device isn't supported. Curve 8330, bought it on Monday and was
rather looking forward to this.

Perhaps it's the fault of my carrier... I have a hard time thinking they're
restricting the 8330 from the App World, as it's a rather recent handset.

~~~
mshafrir
FWIW, I'm on the same phone and can access and run the app.

~~~
DanHulton
Hm. I shall have to call Virgin Mobile on the way home and find out WTF.

Thanks.

------
pxlpshr
BlackBerry is doing something I wish Apple had done. Their $200 application
fee (Apple = $100) entitles you to only 10 applications. Your next 10 require
an additional $200 payment.

Had Apple done this, I think you would see far less junk apps that are
repurposed fifteen ways to Sunday. A lot of indies and students would probably
think twice about releasing useless crap if submissions were limited and had
value.

Most .99 apps that are not on the Top Charts make less than ~$75 a month.

~~~
mxcl
I think it'll kill the market. You need that experimentation zone. We just
released our app on there. But I'd never release any hobby projects to their
store. It's not just the price point that stops me. I can afford that if I
must. But it means there won't be any open source/hobbyist community
developing. And that's what I want to be a part of.

~~~
pxlpshr
Being limited by a $200 application fee to get 10 more slots is NOT going to
kill a market for quality-focused developers (indie or not). I'm sorry but
that's hardly the case... In fact, we would happily pay ~$10k to publish to
iTunes if it meant half the stuff on the store would not be there.

That said, I really wish Apple had let apps run wild. As an alternative,
developers could apply for iTunes Publishing and give up 30% + extensive
review process. This would let Apple pick and choose without criticism, while
"experimenters" could keep the clutter off the store but in a true free market
economy where if it was truly that great — it would be recognized with or
without Apple's support.

My guess is the Blackberry market will be nerfed by inconsistent hardware that
will require extensive testing to ensure a consistent experience for all
consumers. Have you developed a Blackberry web-app? Have fun, it's a
nightmare... especially when almost all the user-agents report a unique
browser specific to the phone. And that's when things were relatively simple.

It's in this regard (and others) that the iPhone wins, and while critics will
find fault in a closed/commoditized hardware device — it's truly one of the
primary reasons for so much interest in the iPhone (though possibly not
recognized given the influx of 'new' software developers). If we had a
thousand+ configurations to deal with like Windows Mobile or Blackberry, we
would likely not be publishing out of our apartment unless we had funding of
some sort.

Look, I'm all about experimenting and hobbyist developers and there's really
not much stopping you now... build a few apps, install them on your phone and
friends w/ ad hoc distros. But there's really no reason that many of these
apps need to clutter a market place. It's like putting a .99 store in a
respected city mall, which would never happen be/c there is a gatekeeper
preventing crap from leasing space and degrading the shopping experience for
customers who go to the mall with an expectation.

That said, I really wish Apple never let iFart on the store. Complete free
markets tend to be overrated and resemble anarchy.

~~~
mxcl
Yes well said, I reconsider my stance. Apple's store is full of crap, and
Blackberry's won't be. Apple want to control their platform completely, but
frankly, like you say, they don't seem to have a huge quality barrier, we've
all seen the store fillng up with crap. And the store cannot scale to the
number of apps in it already.

Your points and experience developing for BB were interesting to me thanks. We
came from doing an iPhone app, doing an Android app and then dealing with the
multitude that is BB dev, so the points hit home.

