BlackBerry devices are holding their own — even with the lackluster Torch launch — against RIM and Android devices in almost all areas but one: the app store. BlackBerry-maker RIM has already implemented carrier billing for apps as part of its efforts to boost its app store offering. Today, it took another step and basically bought an independent app store, Cellmania, to further boost its efforts.
TG Daily has the details:
[Cellmania] specializes in software solutions for mobile application purchasing. It easily enables mobile phone companies to charge user accounts for software subscriptions, track purchase histories, and allow for micro-transactions within games and apps.
As part of the Blackberry OS overhaul, RIM launched a new version of its app store, App World, though it also have been receiving a lukewarm welcome…It hopes buying up a brand new company with fresh ideas will help change that.
Connected Planet’s take,
Susana Schwartz:
It’s impressive that a small company like Cellmania has managed to come so far against competitors like Qualcomm. In terms of app store infrastructure, Cellmania provides RIM with an ecosystem through which it can deliver, manage and bill for content, while also managing DRM and things like real-time reporting of transactions.
With Cellmania’s mFinder, RIM content developers can upload content for distribution and RIM can access, update and change content that appears on its devices’ screens. mFinder will reconcile payments for data and disseminate revenue generated to different stakeholders. A bonus is that RIM will also access Cellmania’s network of content providers, which boast 2 million content items ,including games, e-mail, music and video files graphics.
This ecosystem, however, doesn’t really translate directly into a better experience for the user of the device. Though the new RIM OS gives a faster and richer browsing experience, it’s questionable whether Cellmania will be enough for RIM to regain what it is losing in the high end of the smartphone market to Google and Apple.
Some believe RIM’s future lies in perhaps switching to Android to avoid a fate similar to that of Palm. RIM’s software and OS are not innovative or revolutionary on their own, so whether it’s recent sales and wins will be enough to catch up to Apple and Google will be interesting, but not likely.
That’s our take on this. Let us know what you think in the comments section below: