RIM announces BlackBerry App World 2.0, beta now available

By on Jul 29, 2010 at 6:24 PM
General July 29, 2010

If you use BlackBerry’s App World to download applications, updates, and regularly find new content, you’ll be pleased as punch to know that App World 2.0 has just gone live in beta form. App World 2.0 brings a number of enhancements to the app — some much needed — and even some new payment options. For starters, credit cards are now directly supported instead of having to go through PayPal, and RIM has brought along support for carrier billing. In true RIM fashion, however, this is not available now, and RIM won’t say which carriers will support it. Next up is the ability to drill down different top 25 lists, something much needed. There are now top 25 paid, free, and theme sections. Simplifying the entire user experience is BlackBerry ID, something you can probably guess. It’s a device-independent user ID, something separate from PIN mumbo jumbo, and will streamline your purchasing profile, keep track of your downloaded applications, etc. Not much of a finder/gatherer? Lastly there is QR barcode support in the new version of App World, so look for developers to start using barcodes in promotional materials, emails, really anything. It’s available now on RIM’s beta site below for download.

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  • bringit

    oh saaa-weeet!

    • buboy

      too late.. im now an android convert.

      • Tdot34

        Guess you haven’t been reading the reports on the many Android apps that are stealing user information, pictures and contact lists from people and selling them to third parties. Open source and open market isn’t always a good thing.

        I for one, am glad RIM is strict on what apps become available, sure there are only 10,000 or so, but I don’t need 7 different flash light apps. All the really useful apps, are available across all three platforms.

      • jay

        That’s gotta be the dumbest response ever. I’m even a current BB user (soon to be android), and that makes no f’ing sense.

      • MicroNix

        There were Apple apps in the past stealing info as well and they are about as strict as you get. What is your point?

        If you are happy running apps on a small screen half the size of the phone then hurray for you! You on a platform that has been sliding at tremendous speeds from the mountain it was on. The new BB that looks like the old BB that looks like the older BB isn’t cutting it anymore. Like Microsoft, BB hasn’t gotten the memo yet that their style is stale…

      • sg

        bb fan girl here and the truth about only 10k apps is not some RIM regulated quality control– it’s the reality that its reallly hard for developers to write in bb OS. all the makers of fart and sex position apps that clog apple’s app store with trash just dont have the patience for bb os code

      • zen

        Actually it wasnt a “bunch” of apps that were sharing, it was one wallpaper app, maybe you should read the article a bit more carefully.

  • Vee

    I don’t see the link for the beta site. Maybe cause I’m reading from my 9700 browser?

    • iMiiTH

      …or you weren’t invited.

    • Tony

      Maybe you’re just stupid!

  • jefferson_airplane

    This will be nice to see on the upcoming Blackberry devices. I tried to use the Android devices, there is just so much about them that don’t work and they can’t create a consistent UI among devices. Apple has its problems with a closed OS, but at least there is consistency.

    • MicroNix

      Seriously, name ONE thing on an Android device that “doesn’t work”

  • Professor Stevens

    A good marketplace on a phone operating system that is not broken and fragmented, like the Android. Any type of compare and contrast with the low intelligence Android fanbase gets them in a tizzy. Especially when something on the horizon looks to challenge their flawed device, they get really defensive. Let’s go Blackberry!

    • MicroNix

      You are seriously delusional…but ignorance is bliss!

  • Uhhh

    Thank you jeff, for posting about your personal experiences with vibrating apps. I’m sure it felt good.

    • http://twitter.com/tarund Tarun D.

      LMAO @Uhhh

    • jeff

      did you look up that zinger on ur bb broswer? oh thats right, YOUR BROWSER F***ING SUCKS LIKE YOUR MOM ON A FRIDAY NITE

      DROOOOOOOOOOID

      • Tony

        You’re a moron! Go pour some gasoline on your head and then light a match.

      • jay

        haha. did not expect that response, despite how true it may be =P

  • patrick

    What’s with the android jabs on a bb post? And blackberry is the leader in fragmentation.

    • Professor Stevens

      Blackberry devices have a consistency amongst form factors and OS’s. Each Android has a different version of the OS, as well as a different UI. You never know where your address book will be on a particular phone – is it Contacts or People? Or your photos – is it Gallery, Albums or Photos?

      Google and specifically Android is a bunch of ADD nerds that throw shit against the wall until it sticks. I’ll take an OS any day built for real usability. It must be hard to wrap your head around using a device that doesn’t have a bunch of cartoon icons.

      • Tony

        That’s because Android is made for an ADD user base.

      • tomm

        Yeah rock solid os, hows that javascript and flash loading on ur websites?

      • MicroNix

        Yes, BB has a consistent form factor….from 2005.

        FYI, out of the millions of Android devices over 50% are now on the same OS and increasing every month.

        Obviously you have no clue about the Android OS. Only the manufacture supported interfaces on the top. You see, Android devices are more than just a mail device. BB still is the best email device around. Did you catch the part “email device”? Like an oversized pager, BB is awesome at receiving and sending mail. Oh, and now they are going to add more apps where you can squint your eyes to see them because the screen is half of what any REAL smart phone is.

        Why don’t you educate yourself about Android before making such wild claims. You might actually find them useful after you actually use one.

  • FreddyG

    You must be kidding me…this they announce, how about the release of the 6.0 we have been waiting for since 2006…

    It is already 4 yrs too late, but that must be the game plan…have us wait so long for an already outdated OS that we will all leave and goto apple or droid…’

    Great game plan RIM, why dont you just devalue your stock a bit more…

  • mikestorm

    Since 6.0 (then 5.1) was announced, TWO android versions (2.0 and 2.1) have come and gone, and 2.2 is on its way. And when a new Android version does get released, its backwards compatible with almost all devices. 6.0 may not even be compatible with my six month old 9550. So please, don’t play the fragmentation card when defending RIM from the android fanbase; you’re embarrasing yourselves.

    • LOL

      So insecure… You love your Android device, we get it.

  • Perspective

    Zzzzz. . . .

  • Tony

    On the beta website it says that AT&T is supporting carrier billing right now. You should probably change the story to reflect that. Direct quote:
    Carrier Billing: Carrier billing is currently only available in the U.S on the AT&T network for BIS users – in other words, beta testers who are currently on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (i.e., BlackBerry smartphone has been configured to receive corporate email) will not have this functionality enabled.

  • Outdatedberry

    RIM u are so far behind The Apple App store and Android App store it isn’t even funny. How long can u ride that “we r more secure” crap?!?Damn glad I ditched my Berry for iPhone. Android is looking mighty good too!!

    • Wow

      Have you actually tried the software? It’s pretty good. I own an iPhone too and I find myself using the BB way more often than the iPhone… That wasn’t necessary true a year ago.

      • MicroNix

        Used it all from WinMo, BB, iOS and Android. At an enterprise scale, BB still has some worth though its losing ground FAST as execs all want Apple or Android phones (and unlike Professor Stevens, I’m not making this up). BB had a niche and filled it well. However as people see the capabilities of other devices that BBs don’t have or don’t do well (let alone what is perceived as the “cool factor” of other platforms) the demand for BB devices is falling. So long as they keep a half screen form factor, they are going to continue losing ground. Not to mention that in an enterprise, active sync to an Exchange server rules. Who needs the expense of a RIM server (which is so over priced its not funny) when you can have “fresher” devices that don’t require it or the expense?

  • Kevin P

    I got this invite too but of course the BB Beta site was spitting out proxy errors every 5 seconds. When it finally worked I had to leave work and didn’t have time to download it. And all you iPhone people at least I can hold my Storm 2 tightly with my big hands and not lose signal! And Android fanboys, Apple is our enemy not each other.

  • Gabriel C

    it’s alot smoother. I give it a thumbs up.

  • Outdatedberry

    Yeah, keep pulling your Blackberry battery 50 times a day to get it to work. RIM has the worst OS in the smartphone market period! I think most of u have Berrys because u hate Apple so much. Like I said, RIM IS FAR BEHIND IN EVERY category. Two reason there r still so many Berrys still out there 1) they were one if the first in the smartphone market 2) not all carriers have the iPhone. It would b safe to say that many of the “berryheads” on here are not with AT&T….but with Verizon. I’m not saying iPhone is the perfect phone but the iOS is pretty flawless in terms of locking up/freezing. I could never say that for my Storm (which I stood in the freezing cold to get on opening day), the Storm is a flat out joke!! Jumped shipped and to go to AT&T for the iPhone 3GS and now iPhone 4. BTW…no reception issues here!

    • sg

      you’re comparing an entire line of over a dozen devices to one particularly recognized failure called Storm 1. I am a 9650 owner and have not had to do any of the battery pulls that non-BB users accuse us of having to do. After a year with 5.0 i find it slightly outdated, which is fine, it came out a year ago. I own a 3rd gen ipod touch and have been able to compare iOS4 and bb5.0 pretty well. the biggest difference? ios4 came out this summer. naturally it has more innovations and it’s operating on a touchscreen UI so it’s more ‘freed up’ than my Tour. Your rant seems to be about one RIM experience you had with a device that was by far RIM’s worst failure to date. You sound like you could use a friend. Let’s hug.

  • Outdatedberry

    BTW, when was the last time u heard a buisiness say in a commercial “download our Blackerry app today”? They don’t because RIM is a dying breed they do not want to invest in. I was a HUGE Blackberry fan before the Storm. I too knocked iPhone and it’s lack of copy/paste, lack of video camera, etc. Apple was very quick to fix those things. How long will it take for RIM to develop a mobile video conference system like Apples FaceTime?? Sure u may think it’s not needed or hokey but the technology is there and Apple was the first to do it. Lastly, how about that BB browser…how’s that working out for you?? Talking about lame and hokey!!! Oh well to each his own…I’m gonna keep supporting the American company that has relentless vision for future technology…Apple and Android. See ya in the shadows RIM!!!

    • sg

      yes! keep supporting an american company that builds its entire product line through third part chinese companies!

  • RIMless

    They still make phones with buttons on them?!?

    • Len

      Iphones and Android devices have buttons on them.. what’s your point?

    • sg

      consumers still want qwerty, so yes.

  • http://www.helixzone.net helix2301

    This is great I love the blackberry app store. Glad to see they are still keeping the app store around. There rumors of them getting rid of it.

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