When BlackBerry App World launched on April 1st, there were mixed reviews.  While it was great to have an official application storefront accessible directly from the device, it wasn’t exactly breaking any new ground.   Now, almost three months later, App World still has an opportunity to improve and expand.  The question is, will RIM implement any improvements to improve their own app store experience?  Can App World help attract — and retain — Blackberry customers and developers?

In an already crowded mobile app store world, here are 10 Things RIM (still) needs to do to improve BlackBerry App World.

1. Marketing
Just about anyone with a television has seen Apple’s advertisements letting us know “There’s an App for that.” By marketing applications on TV, Apple continues to drive customers to their App Store.  This is in addition to print ads, internet blogs and reviews.  Sure, iTunes was around long before the App Store or the iPhone — but Apple continues to highlight the fact that, yes, “There’s an App for that!”

RIM’s BlackBerry advertisements consist of “Life on a BlackBerry.”  The recent ads are a big step forward for the company, who previously relied solely on their business-to-business model — and the wireless carriers themselves — to manage advertising the product.  Now, RIM needs to start emphasizing their own application portal.  I have been surprised talking to friends who still haven’t downloaded or browsed BlackBerry App World — and those are existing device users.   Throw some more money and emphasis on marketing App World, and that may help get even more developers interested in the platform.  This, in turn, could help in more quality applications being available for consumers.

But if no one outside the circle of wireless carriers and existing business customers knows you’re “there,” it’s not likely that the storefront’s features or offerings will expand or attract customers for App World.

2. Add Desktop / Web Storefront Access.
OK, this continues to be a huge misstep.  I mean, it’s great to be able to find and download applications wirelessly right from the BlackBerry; but let’s be honest, that is not new.  BlackBerry users could already do this via Berrystore (which recently closed operation), and many other ‘Berry-centric app stores (Handango, Mobihand, etc).  The problem with relying soley with the on-device only portal is that people like to browse and view details of applications away from their device — not to mention that desktop access gives customers the abillity to browse and install (via Desktop Manager’s App Loader, if need be) when they aren’t in an area with stellar celluar data coverage or WiFi.

Why isn’t access to a desktop BlackBerry App World included on RIM’s Desktop Manager software that goes out with every BlackBerry device?  Huge mistake.  Right there you give your customers a way to get to your application portal (and be more be likely to install the handheld App World software to install even more apps). Most customers will browse applications from their desktop so they can more easily read the reviews, then choose to download / install the apps they need.

BlackBerry users should also be able to access a Desktop version of App World right from the web.  Each device has a PIN, and users have email addresses — so use both to manage a web accessible App World.  If the user changes devices, they can log in and update that information online using the email address they registered.  If they change email addresses, they can log in and manage that in their App World account.

3.  Update Payment Method

Going with PayPal as the single payment method is another mistake.  Right off the bat, potential customers are excluded because they don’t have a PayPal account.  Sure, it’s not a painful process to set up a free PayPal account, but why force your customers to go that route — especially potential customers who may not want to bother entering their data for yet another online payment system that they have never used.   Allow customers to link their chosen credit or bank card without forcing them to go through PayPal.   (There has been some discussion that carrier-branded App Worlds would be introduced, allowing customers to charge apps is directly to their wireless bill.  I’m not too keen on this idea, as I don’t want another line item to scrutinize on a wireless bill — or have another issue to contact customer service over).

Wayne hit the nail on the head on April 2nd when he questioned why App World wasn’t using BlackBerry Wallet to manage payments.  Here we have a device application meant to manage credit cards and financial data, but it is not utilized in App World in any way.  So far, BlackBerry Wallet still seems like another Password Keeper for the BlackBerry.  Opening up the BlackBerry Wallet app with integration to App World only makes sense.  Is it coming RIM?  When?

4.  Pricing

Sure, there are plenty of free applications available, but then the base application in App World starts at $2.99. When comparing similar applications available on Apple’s App Store and App World, the price difference can sometimes be 10 times higher — or more.  To compete with Apple’s App Store, the pricing has to be addressed — and match or beat comparable application pricing on the other platforms.  The higher base price may well exclude “useless” applications that replicate bodily sounds, but has it improved the overall quality of application availability — or the adoption of BlackBerry App World use overall?

5.  Application Availability

Some applications are STILLl not available on App World.    Wayne pointed out that after App World’s launch, Facebook was nowhere to be found — and that is one of BlackBerry’s most popular applications.  Sure it was added, and remains in the top 10 BlackBerry App World Apps — but it wasn’t there on launch, and many other popular BlackBerry applications remain nowhere to be found on App World.  Want UberTwitter?  You won’t find it on App World.  If you do a search for BlackBerry Twitter clients, you won’t see TwitterBerry either.   Too many BlackBerry apps rely on the user to go to the developer’s own site to download wirelessly — completely bypassing BlackBerry App World.  Sure, there may be licensing issues, or the developer may have decided just to forego App World.  Perhaps these “missing” apps will appear on App World down the road, but that’s part of the problem; a single storefront for all popular applications is why I go to App World.  Don’t even think about getting new themes for your BlackBerry — they are not even provided on App World (this would be a great category add  while driving Theme Developers to your portal…hint, hint).  So, users wanting to customize the look of their ‘Berry have to look outside of App World.

Bottom line:  If the apps aren’t there, I’m going somewhere else.

6.  Store Fragmentation

The thing with the iTunes App Store is that it is the only place to find applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch.  With BlackBerry, there are multiple app stores to find applications. CrackBerry, BlackBerryCool, and PinStack all have their own application portals — and you can install their own branded on-device apps to purchase an app wirelessly as well.  So, RIM’s App World faces competition from other portals — and these other portals often run regular discounts and promotions for applications — as well as having apps that BlackBerry App World may be missing.

RIM should work to make their App World the single portal of use, and work with the other existing BlackBerry application stores to integrate their portals over to App World (providing those alternate sites a percentage of sales — which is how their current & separate app stores function).  Then RIM can work with developers to offer special promotions and discounts on, say, an App of the Week.

7.  Expand to other countries — Faster

BlackBerry App World launched with availability for US, Canadian, and British customers.  It’s rumored to be hitting the rest of Europe on July 2oth — almost four months after the initial release.  What about other countries? When will they get App World?

8.  OS Variation

A problem for developers is how to manage application development and support for all of the different BlackBerry devices — and their operating systems.  Many have to draw a line in the sand on how “low” they will go for their applications.  Many will support BlackBerry OS 4.2 and higher, but will often run into issues with newer OS’s like 4.7 depending on what new features and functions are included.  Apple, Android, and other platforms don’t have this wide of a discrepancy.  Most Apple users will now be running (or soon upgrading) the 3.0 OS. Android users will likely have the 1.5 “Cupcake” OS running  – and then upgrade to the 2.0 “Donut” OS when Google officially releases that version.  BlackBerry users, however, can be running any number of operating systems depending on device model, wireless carrier, or what’s been “leaked” out on the web by other adventurous users.

This variation greatly impacts BlackBerry applications.  Some apps won’t work with a Storm, but work fine on the Curve or Bold models.  Some carrier OS builds may vary ever-so-slightly, but enough to where an application may not run properly on a device — or worse, completely brick it and render it unusable until the user reinstalls the operating system.  Not fun.

RIM’s BlackBerry App World is supposed to identify what device and OS the user is running to prevent these issues; but this does not seem to consistently be the case.   Going forward, newer devices should be brought in line with the same OS.  Slowly work and phase out 4.2.  Let’s make 5.0 (whenever that version is officially released) the baseline for BlackBerry devices across the board.  Sure, I may have a 5.0.1.1234, but that’s going to be easier than 4.2, 4.3. 4.5, 4.7, 5.0 and every “dot” release in the middle.

9.  Memory Lapse

Most BlackBerry devices can range from 256MB to 1GB in on-board memory.  Unless you are using Aerize SD Card Loader (not available on App World, by the way), don’t count on using your microSD card for extra apps. The “solution” to this issue is that your apps are stored in your own area of App World called “My World,”  where all of the apps you have installed can be accessed and reinstalled.  While helpful to keep those pesky JVM errors at bay when your device is too low in memory to run applications, it really defeats the purpose of having apps.  I want to use them, not have to pick and choose what I need at a given time and then be forced to delete an app from the device.  I’ve paid for it, and I can reinstall it for free from the “My World” section of App World, but, still. Give me enough memory to run these applications.

This item does fall in the “device” specific issues, but since it impacts the App World experience overall it is a keeper in my book.

10.  Add a Category for Free Apps

Yep.  There’s still no category for Free Apps.  Sure, many of the top 25 apps for BlackBerry are free, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a designated category to browse through all free applications? Heck, I’d like to see categories added that break down by price range (free, $2.99-$4.99, etc).  This makes browsing easier when you need an app, but have a price baseline that you don’t want to pass.  If you browse through App World now, you’ll see apps in the $20, $30, and on up in price.  Most iPhone/iPod Touch customers would scoff at paying those prices (see item #4).

OK, I lied.  There’s going to be one more….to grow on:

Bonus: Improve Method for Updating Apps

In order to see whether there are any updates for an application I’ve downloaded from App World, I have to be in App World on my device. Even then, it’s not consistent.  I may see the application in the My World section showing with an available update.  I may not.  I may be aware of an updated version from another tech blog or BlackBerry-centric website.   Then, when I do have an update, I must go through the download process — which could take several minutes.  Then, I will usually be required to reboot the device — taking another 2 to five minutes.  Bye bye convenience.  It could take up to ten minutes to update an app, but only if I go into BlackBerry App World and see whether or not there is an update.

The update notifications should be pushed to the user — something that is always advertised to be the feature BlackBerry has done from day one.  Secondly, I should not have to reboot the device to upgrade the application. Fix these two issues and you give customers a seamless and painless process for updating their applications.

I’m sure you have more to add to the list.  Sound-off in the comments and let us know what improvements you would like to see made in the BlackBerry App World.

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