April 1st, 2009
BlackBerry App World launches: First impressions and a weird IE requirement
Research in Motion has launched its App World application store and it’s all set up for a CTIA keynote from co-CEO Mike Lazardis on Wednesday. Overall, App World works pretty well, but I did encounter a few hangups worth noting.
The official announcement (Techmeme) is that RIM has launched App World and on the surface there’s a wide range of software available. App World has a top download page and categories ranging from personal finance to games to sports and productivity. The store looked well stocked.
This morning I was all set to take App World for a spin. I went to my BlackBerry Storm went to the URL I was supposed to–www.blackberry.com/appworld/download and only found a connection error. I tried it three times on the Storm. I figured maybe it was a Verizon Wireless thing. It was. After a call to tech support I got rolling (I had to take out my Storm battery to reset and initiate the download). My advice: Download App World by your phone since tethering is a nightmare.
Here are a few odds and ends I found:
- When you tether your BlackBerry to the laptop you get an odd prompt when you try to download App World from the Web: Firefox isn’t supported and you need IE—for a BlackBerry phone!
- And even when you use IE you get a few of these:
- And App World doesn’t show up as a prompt in the BlackBerry desktop software.
Frankly, I would have been happy if App World just showed up easily via the desktop. Rest assured if iTunes App Store was updated Apple would let me know about it.
Overall though App World was pretty handy. I downloaded a Bloomberg application, a move that was easy because it was free. Frogger on the other hand had a few more hurdles. Here’s where App World’s PayPal requirement can be a problem. If I don’t have a PayPal account BlackBerry tells me to go to the Web and get one. I have a PayPal account, but use it rarely. Luckily, I remembered the password and bought the application.
I had expected the PayPal requirement to be a big hurdle, but it wasn’t as bad as thought it would be.
If you’re a BlackBerry user, App World is definitely worth a spin. However, you won’t find an abundance of free apps lying around.
Update: RIM public relations contacted me about my problem and noted that I had problems because desktop downloading isn’t available yet. That’s strange since the download page listed desktop tethering as an option:
Now they tell me.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.
Subscribe to Between the Lines via Email alerts or RSS.
| 04/01/09
