We may not see RIM's next-gen OS BB10 for a few months yet, but the BlackBerry-maker is already bigging up its app skills.
BB10 will have more apps at launch than any other mobile operating system, according to RIM's vice president of developer relations and ecosystem development, Alec Saunders, who spoke to our sister site CNET News. The bad news? That might not be anthing to boast about.
Saunders concedes iOS and Android's app stores were practically nonexistent when the operating systems launched, which leaves Microsoft's Windows Phone OS as the frontrunner. Its magic number is 7,000 apps -- that's according to Nokia at the launch of the Lumia 920 this week.
With iOS and Android firmly established as the two big mobile operating systems, RIM will be vying with Microsoft for third place. So it's no wonder it's keen to take its rival down a peg or two. Microsoft also did some creative accounting last year to work out that Windows Phone's Marketplace had more apps than BlackBerry's App World.
Recently, RIM was keen to stress just how many apps have been downloaded for BlackBerry devices -- 3 billion, according to the BlackBerry Developer blog. Its App World store now has 90,000 apps for sale.
That's all well and good, but RIM has some serious catching up to do. Its BB10 OS has been delayed more times than I care to remember, with the latest launch estimate being early next year. RIM has been forced to consider some last-resort options, including splitting in two or even joining forces with Microsoft. If the latter did happen, I'm guessing all the crowing about app counts would stop pretty sharpish.
The company roadmap leaked recently too, with two BB10 handsets on the way, as well as a 10-inch tablet named Blackforest, and a 4G PlayBook. With Everything Everywhere poised to unfurl 4G all over this fair and pleasant land imminently, that could be a real boon to RIM's fortunes.
Are you excited about BB10? What does it need to do to win you back? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
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Comments 10
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anonymous 9 September, 2012 08:06
Ha! Yeah right, just try and beat the Android and iOS app stores which have hundreds of thousands of apps RIM!
What a statement. Laughable really.
anonymous 9 September, 2012 15:29
Ha this has got to be one of the funniest articles I've read on CNET!
RIM are delusional, there is no way let me say it again NO WAY! That They can compare or even think of beating Android and Apple in terms of App Stores!
I mean This section of the article "Recently, RIM was keen to stress just how many apps have been downloaded for BlackBerry devices -- 3 billion, according to the BlackBerry Developer blog. Its App World store now has 90,000 apps for sale"
Just shows how little their store is!
As apple hit the 16billion download mark earlier this year (or late last year Nov/Dec can't remember)
And had well over a million apps available to download from the App store! A new app hits the app store evey day.....so to think that your product will have the bigger line up.......is just ridiculous
Thank you Alec Saunders (RIM's VP) for this statement.......it has made my day!
It's like a snail trying to win a race against a cheetah!
The snail will never win.......NEVER!
anonymous 9 September, 2012 15:58
If you actually paid attention to the article, you would see that they are trying to launch bb10 with more apps then the other os' launched with.. Obviously they won't catch up to Android and iOS at launch...
anonymous 9 September, 2012 20:30
Exactly, read first, comment afterwards.
Btw, I don't need 10k of fart apps to be happy.
anonymous 9 September, 2012 23:21
Who owns the patent on fart apps?
unlockworldwide 10 September, 2012 10:42
Dear anonymous:
Far be it from me to disagree with your disdain of Research In Inertia, but the analogy in comment 2 of 5 about the snail/ cheetah was a significant error in judgement. My garden is full of bloody snails and I cannot get rid of them. The cheetah on the other hand is, like Liberal Democrats, on the endangered species list.
Not that 85 million subscribers will not evaporate as contracts expire.
Addressing the article which asks for comments, may I repeat an earlier post. My BlackBerry loving wife (she of the qwerty fingernails which create an inability to swipe a touchscreen) persistently forwards her pictures to my iPhone; her Curve (the BlackBerry's that is) being MOST unsatisfactory as a viewing device. Size does matter at times.
anonymous 10 September, 2012 10:54
is RIM still using GSM connectivity and HTML as a web browser which takes 5 min's to load? RIM is still stuck in 2004 and their competitors are decades head. Everything about RIM lacks user friendliness, efficiency, practicality and also their app's are dreadful. Even the developers can't be asked to complete the apps as they will crash when loading.
anonymous 10 September, 2012 12:59
Is the number of Apple apps anything to brag about when 60% of them have NEVER been downloaded?
anonymous 11 September, 2012 12:33
Is the number of android apps anything to brag about when 60% of them have NEVER been downloaded. And 29% require the latest os to be installed on the device which 89% of people never do and 82.2% of all statistics are made up in the spot.
On topic, RIM need something to say cause they're really at a straw clutching point with the competition of two great os systems and Microsoft.
anonymous 13 September, 2012 21:31
And out come the fanboys and girls. I currently use iOS, Android and BB, as a means of making phone calls and doing emails Apple and Android are just not as good fullstop. They are more fun, they are great for games do have huge app stores but with most of it being useless stuff. If I want to look at photos I will use my Sammy Note, if I want to programme the Sky box or read the paper I will use the iPad (if my son is not playing Ice-age Village on it). If I want to read emails or make a phone call the BB9900 is tops. They all have their niche