RIM’s much (?) anticipated answer to Apple’s iTunes App Store finally came online today — the Blackberry App World. It provides Blackberry users with a central location from which they can find, purchase and download 3rd party applications for their handhelds. The slick interface directs users to games, travel utilities and productivity applications among others along with reviews and screenshots. One wonders if the project was rushed just a little too much though. The store seems to function fine… that is until it’s time to pay!
While Apple has had the benefit of nearly a year’s head start, from day one they have made ease of use a priority for the customer, and with one or two clicks, an application can be downloaded and billed directly to your credit card. Not so with RIM’s (RIMM) App World! For some strange reason, they have decided that the only method of payment will be PayPal… yes, the payment service synonymous with (and eventually purchased by) EBay (EBAY). Want to buy an application? Sign-up with PayPal first… and give this service — one rife with consumer complaints over locked accounts, fraudulent charges and other malfeasance — your financial information!
It’s little wonder that the price of programs in the App World are significantly higher than in Apple’s App Store ($2.99 vs. $0.99 or even free!) with so many mouths to feed — developers, RIM, credit card processing fees and now PayPal!
One would have thought that given the tight relationship between RIM and carriers that offer its service, they could have developed a system that would have charged items directly to a user’s monthly cell phone bill or bought / developed their own in-house transaction processor. In the meantime, I wouldn’t expect user acceptance to even remotely approach the levels Apple has been able to generate to date.
