UPDATE: RIM Unveils New App World For BlackBerry
2009年4月2日 - 1:29AM
Dow Jones News
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) launched its App World for
BlackBerry smartphones Wednesday as it looks to tap a market for
mobile programs made lucrative by Apple Inc. (AAPL) and the
iPhone.
RIM is getting into an increasingly crowded room filled with
high-profile companies looking to turn a profit off mobile
storefronts. It's part of a larger push by the Canadian company to
appeal to more consumers - media programs figure prominently at
launch. If successful, the company could open the door to a new
revenue stream.
App World will feature a front-page carousel that will allow
users to browse a certain number of featured applications, which
will vary from week to week. It also will include a keyword search
capability and allow users to review and recommend applications to
other users.
Research in Motion said it expects about 1,000 applications to
be posted by partners on BlackBerry App World this week, including
applications from CC Media Holdings Inc.'s (CCMO) Clear Channel,
Gameloft SA (GFT.FR), Viacom Inc.'s (VIAB) MTV Networks, the New
York Times Co. (NYT) and Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM).
The platform will support both free and purchased
applications.
Blackberry users can download the storefront from RIM's Web
site. Among the popular applications available are business to
business programs for customer management, social-networking
programs such as MySpace and Facebook, and instant messaging
programs. The company hopes to merge the features from these
programs with the "push" and "always on" reputation Blackberry has
earned with the corporate work force.
MySpace is owned by News Corp. (NWSA), which also owns Dow Jones
& Co., the publisher of this newswire.
In order to buy paid applications, a Blackberry subscriber needs
to set up an account with PayPal, which will handle the financial
transaction. Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said RIM is working
with carriers to make it possible for users to pay for the apps
through their monthly cellphone bill.
"We are doing integrated carrier billing strategies, so you'll
see them," Balsillie said in an interview. "Different carriers have
different billing strategies, so it's quite frankly a bunch of
work."
He added that carrier involvement and "harmony" has been a
priority for RIM.
Media figure prominently in App World, and music in particular
was a major part of RIM President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis'
keynote address earlier Wednesday. He talked about Shazam, Slacker,
Pandora and Napster, as well as support for Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
media and Apple's iTunes. Live streaming television for Blackberrys
is another program that will be available for the launch.
"It's a long-term revenue thing, but the most important thing is
to catalyze the developer community and developer environment,"
said Balsillie, adding that it will help drive sales of
Blackberrys.
Tuesday, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) unveiled its Windows Marketplace
for Mobile, its version of an application storefront.
The application stores will be featured at the CTIA Wireless
industry trade show, which kicks off later Wednesday in Las
Vegas.
Shares of Research in Motion traded recently at $45.43, up
$2.33, or 5.4%.
-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020;
roger.cheng@dowjones.com
(Sara Silver and Kerry Grace contributed to this story.)