BlackBerry App World: Awakening of a Giant?

Starting today, Research In Motion (RIM) is making its online digital distribution network, the BlackBerry App World (Version 1.1) available to independent developers and smartphone users in various European countries like Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands and the Channel Islands. In addition to this massive expansion of RIM's app store, the service is being made available in a number of diverse languages like English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.A few days ago, the company quietly unveiled the BlackBerry Tour 9360, a 3G BlackBerry Smartphone that is a worthy contender for the new Apple iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre. In spite of the lack of significant marketing buzz, the company is making considerable inroads, even among new buyers. According to independent technology research and consulting firm Yankee Group, 41% of Americans who plan to buy a smartphone were favoring the BlackBerry because of its versatility, features and the new app store, the BlackBerry App World, which continues to grow its stock.While RIM's App Store has quite a long way to go before it reaches the dizzying heights of its Apple counterpart, the App World already boasts a number of useful applications for its users.Office Apps

  • Instaspell - A spell checker that integrates with most native BlackBerry apps
  • Opera Mini - A mobile browser to browse the Web for free!
  • File Manager Pro - This manages files on the BlackBerry; to open, create, extract and append Zip archives
  • Anagram - It allows you to use the clipboard to capture information from any type of text on the BlackBerry including email signatures, directories, and even web searches; such as contact information, sales leads, meetings and appointments, and it works with BlackBerry email. Comes for free.

Social Networking Apps

  • Facebook - It provides an application to connect and manage your account on the BlackBerry for free.
  • Flickr - Taking a picture means you can upload it on the web for free.
  • IM+ All-in-One Messenger - To continue chatting through all of your IM accounts, including MSN/Windows Live Messenger, AIM/iChat, Google Talk, Yahoo!, Jabber, ICQ, Facebook, MySpace and Skype, you can use this application
  • UberTwitter - To post and read Twitter updates and also update your location and videos (free).

Fun and Games

  • iHeart Radio - Streams more than 350 Clear Channel radio stations on the BlackBerry (free).
  • Pandora - To stream music on the BlackBerry (free).
  • QuickPull - Restarts the Blackberry without having to physically remove the batteries (free)

Research In Motion (RIM) is pulling all stops to provide its smartphone users a rich experience through a variety of apps. If you're interested in developing a BlackBerry application to enhance your business productivity and collaboration efforts, please visit us at www.webspiders.com to discuss your specific requirements.