BlackBerry launches App World in Pakistan

Rising popularity of rival smartphones may have forced the move: analyst.

KARACHI: After a three-year wait, Research in Motion has finally launched the highly-anticipated App World – the official store for applications – for BlackBerry-toting customers in Pakistan, according to its local partner Emitac Mobile Solutions (EMS).

The Canada based manufacturer of Blackberry smart phones had earlier enabled the App World on a test-basis in February for a day in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Blackberry users are now able to access the application, according to details posted on its website on Monday and later confirmed by EMS – the manufacturer’s support partner – in a statement on Tuesday.

More than six million apps are downloaded daily across the globe from BlackBerry’s App World.

“It was bound to happen,” said a telecom source who requested anonymity. While commenting on the development, he said RIM’s intentions were clear from the test launch in February. The rising popularity of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android-powered phones, the source said, may have forced this development.

Smartphones are more about applications, according to experts. RIM was slow to open its doors as iPhone and Android-powered phones gave its Pakistani users unlimited access to their application stores – Apple’s App Store and Android Marketplace, respectively.

BlackBerry once dominated the North American market for smartphones, boasting more than a 50 per cent share of the market but now sits just under 15 per cent in the US, according to market research firm Neilsen. But the company continues to do well throughout the world where its BBM service is popular, according to research group Canalys.

“We are very excited to be part of the App World launch in Pakistan,” said EMS CEO Babar Khan in the statement. Launched in April 2009 in US, Canada and UK, App World is now available in over 130 countries. App World allows access to third-party applications while paid ones can be purchased using valid PayPal accounts and credit cards.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2012.