BlackBerry grows app numbers, still lags competitors
Research in Motion’s (RIM) applications and developer numbers for BlackBerry for the final quarter of 2011 reveals strong growth in its offerings, an area where the group has previously struggled.
However, despite a 21% increase in the number of apps available for it’s flagship smartphones – bringing the total number of apps past 70,000 – RIM still lags far behind the iOS and Android app stores, which offer over 580,000 and 450,000 apps, respectively.
RIM says it is currently planning updates for its apps to make it easier for BlackBerry users to stay connected across platforms using it’s BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), though the company has nixed making its internet service (BIS) and messenger available to non-BlackBerry users.
BlackBerry App Milestones – Q4
- 21% increase in BlackBerry smartphone apps
- 89% increase in BBM connected apps
- 240% increase in PlayBook apps submitted to App World
BlackBerry Developer Milestones – Q4
- 68% increase in vendors registered on App World
- 42% increase in apps submitted to App World by developers
- 137% increase in PlayBook apps approved for sale
- Built porting guides to allow WebOS and jQuery apps to be ported to PlayBook
- Announced port of Qt to allow Nokia developers to target PlayBook and soon, BlackBerry 10
- Launched BlackBerry Native SDK 2.0 for the BlackBerry PlayBook
- Prior to PlayBook OS 2.0 launch, incented 10,000 new developers to register as BlackBerry developers, with offer of a PlayBook in exchange for an app. Over 7,000 new apps submitted
- Since its launch 10 weeks ago, the BlackBerry Developer Success Story page has added more than 20 stories with more to come soon
- Total BBM Connected apps – 735
- Total BBM Connected downloads – 183 million
BlackBerry Apps –By the Numbers
- More than 70,000 apps in App World
- More than 15,000 PlayBook apps
- More than 2 billion total apps downloaded
- 177 million apps downloaded per month
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