RIM opens Blackberry rival to the Apple App Store
The RIM / Blackberry App World store opens on the Web today, starting a new chapter in the RIM vs. Apple battle for supremacy in the mobile smart phone marketplace.
The BlackBerry App World, which today begins offering 1,000 games, music and other applications for customers to download, represents the latest Research In Motion (RIM) shot in this war. RIM is attempting to lure non-business customers into its product line. Currently, over half of Blackberry users use their smart phones for business. RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said, according to a Bloomberg story, “Our strategy is about enablement, we’re trying to create as much enablement in music [consumer programs] as possible. That’s the very card we’re playing here.”
The introduction of RIM’s App World is the second part of their strategy to show that the Blackberry is not just for business. They have introduced the Storm as their first direct competitor to the iPhone, and now sell a number of less expensive models, such as the Pearl Flip and the Curve to appeal to non-business consumers of all ages. RIM hopes that this broadening of appeal beyond business customers can lead them to supremacy in the smart phone marketplace.
Apple’s iPhone has been very successful in this marketplace, but so far appeals primarily to the non-business user. Apple recently announced changes in its iPhone operating system and Application Programmers Interface that will allow developers for the Apple mobile platform to write better apps, including more complex and robust business applications, in addition to games and other consumer applications.
Apple has said surprisingly little about this side of their rationale for the improvement of the iPhone OS, though it is undoubtedly a part of their mobile business strategy. RIM, as evidenced by Balsillie’s statement above, is being quite clear about their desire to cut into Apple’s consumer smart phone business. It is believed that the smart phone segment of the market will be relatively stagnant this year due to world economic woes. Still, both RIM and Apple want to position themselves for the boom, in both business and consumer smart phones, that is expected when the economy recovers.
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April 1st, 2009
That’s huge battle of titans.