14 DAY TRIAL // Research In Motion is one of the mobile phone makers to come up with an app store for its BlackBerry devices, the App World, which was launched publicly back in April. While at launch the app portal included around 1,000 software solutions, we now learn that the number of those available there has doubled, and users can choose from about 2,000 apps for their devices.
Moreover, the availability of the App World is to be extended to more markets in the really near future. To be more precise, RIM plans to open the storefront to BlackBerry users in Italy, France, Germany and Spain, as Bloomberg reports, with more countries to follow in the coming months, including Brazil and India.
The launch of application stores from different mobile phone makers has become a trend these days, mainly due to the fact that Apple, the company that first launched such a portal, has also reported increases in sales. The Apple App Store includes a number of around 50,000 apps at the moment, much more than what other portals include.
One of the storefronts that has a comparable number of items available is Nokia's Ovi Store, though users will find there not only applications, but music, ringtones, themes, podcasts and other items as well. As for other storefronts, such as the Android Market, it currently sports about 5,000 apps, though the number is quite large, compared with the 30 software solutions available with Palm's App Catalog.
On the other hand, it seems that the number of downloads is another important factor in the life of an app store. According to Jeff McDowell, VP of global alliances, cited by Bloomberg, RIM considers the download levels of its App World great, and is very happy with them, although no further details have been unveiled. Now that more apps are available, the entertainment solutions have been doubled, we learn, and the same has happened to the available games. Expect for even more apps to come to the storefront as a result of the extended availability.