RIM names BlackBerry app store, gives pricing

David Meyer ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 05 Mar 2009 13:51 GMT

Research In Motion has given a name to its on-phone application store: BlackBerry App World.

The name was revealed on Wednesday on the Canadian phone manufacturer's website, along with pricing guidelines for applications that will be offered through the store.

Due to go live in March, the store provides a place for third-party developers to sell applications they have created for the BlackBerry smartphone.

According to the North American version of the developer page for BlackBerry App World, there will be nine tiers of pricing for applications, ranging from free to £8.55 per application. After free apps, the cheapest application price will be £2.59.

RIM opened up submissions for its on-device app store and PC-based Storefront app store in January. The company is teaming up with PayPal to provide a payment mechanism for the stores.

BlackBerry App World is RIM's answer to Apple's iPhone App Store, Google's Android Market and Palm's Software Store. At the Mobile World Congress trade show in February, Nokia announced it would introduce the Ovi Store, and Microsoft said it was preparing the Windows Mobile Marketplace app store.