Leaked: BlackBerry to Launch iPhone-Like App Store

Consumers, are you feeling the love? Handset-makers *heart* you! And RIM is poised to become the latest to go after you with an applications storefront. At least, that’s the rumor.

If you’ve been watching television lately, you might have noticed two things: One, Apple Inc. is really pushing the App Store, mostly gaming for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Two, RIM is really pushing the idea of the BlackBerry for pictures, video and other consumer-y things ─ “Life on BlackBerry.” With a full 60 percent of new subscribers coming from non-business users, it seems a solid strategy. But one can see the battle lines being drawn. And now, according to industry leakage, RIM is putting the final touches on a third-party application storefront meant to directly combat the Apple App Store, along with the upcoming T-Mobile USA-Google Inc. G1 handset + Android application market.

While BlackBerry already supports third-party application development, the idea here seems to be kickstarting a multiplicity of consumer applications. Few details are as yet available, but it’s being reported that the store will be offered by the mobile carrier rather than as an independent entity.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines