It heralded a future of greater application choice for those with Blackberry devices and offered up a wider platform for developers to showcase, and monetise, their talents.
"BlackBerry App World provides a fantastic new resource for consumers and an equally exciting progression of business opportunities for our developer and carrier partners," said Jim Balsillie, RIM's co-chief executive, when App World launched. "We are launching Blackberry App World with a solid selection and we look forward to working with our partners to continue delivering the types of apps that best suit our customers' personalised needs and interests."
COMPETITION
With Apple recently having celebrated the two billion download milestone from its own App Store - which boasts tens of thousands of apps - RIM and other players have a lot of catching up to do. That's where developers are key. Without the support and enthusiasm of the developer community, no applications store can survive let alone prosper.
At present there are more than 200,000 developers registered for the BlackBerry Developer Zone and RIM is clearly keen to swell the ranks further.
"From absolute beginners to veteran BlackBerry app developers, BlackBerry Developer Zone has everything you need to create BlackBerry applications," its website claims. "Learn about mobile
development basics and BlackBerry development approaches. Find detailed documentation, developer videos, tools and more... There's a broad customer base out there that's ready for your apps."
When it comes to getting involved with BlackBerry App World and submitting applications, as you'd expect there is a protocol to follow.
Any application packaged as a cod file (using the BlackBerry JDE, JDE Plug-in for Eclipse and JDE component package) can be marketed through App World so long as they comply with the store's Vendor Guidelines (which can be found here: http://us.blackberry.com/business/). In addition submitted apps must not violate the T&Cs of the BlackBerry SDK Licence agreement {details of which can be found here: na.blackberry.com/eng/legal/SDKLA_english.pdf).
Developers will need to visit the BlackBerry App World Vendor Portal (https://appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal/) and register in order to submit their chosen app for approval.
APP DEVELOPED NOW WHAT?
Creating an account is an easy, four-step process: E Read and agree to the BlackBerry App World
Vendor Agreement. \2\ Enter personal contact information. QO Enter company contact information 0 Associate a PayPal account with the Vendor account, PayPal 1s required for both when consumers purchase apps and for onward payment transit back to vendors. Once all the relevant details have been confirmed and the account has been set up, developers will receive an email notification from RIM with detailed application submittal instructions.
Developers don't need to be members of the BlackBerry Alliance Programme to submit an application, but they do need to supply the following with their app:
1 Application name
2 Category
3 Description language
4 Description
5 Icon (480x480 png image)
6 Screenshots
7 Licence type
8 Price
9 Cod files
10 Devices supported
11 OS version supported
12 Selected networks
13 Restricted networks
14 Additional notes
15 Application version
BlackBerry App World features both free and paid-for applications, so developers will need to indicate the cost of their apps if they fall Into the latter category.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
During the submittal process, developers can select a suggested retail price (in dollars), which is linked to a pricing tier. The pricing tier will then show the actual prices for a range of currencies (USD, CDN, GBP and Euros) with the exchange rate.
1 - Tiers increment by $1 USD from $2.99 to $19.99
2 - Tiers increment by $10 USD tiers from $19.99 to $99.99
3 - Tiers increment by $50 USD tiers from $99.99 to $599.99
4 - Tiers increment by $100 USD tiers from $599.99 to $999.99
Applications can only be marked against one category and once an app has been submitted for approval the developer can't make any further changes.
There's also a $200 admin fee involved in registration and app submittal, which covers the 10 submissions. But this is refunded if your account is not approved.
The below are considered individual applications:
1 - An application update that results in the need for new cod flies.
2 - Resubmission of a rejected app
However, multiple versions of the same app (for example for different handsets) won't count as separate submissions.
Once your app is in the system RIM will review it for suitability as well as carrying out technical tests. Then, if successful, developers must publish their app for it to show up in the catalogue, details of which can be found in the Vendor Guide.
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