RIM to unveil BlackBerry App World at CTIA

According to reports, Research In Motion will launch its BlackBerry App World application storefront April 1 at the 2009 International CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas.

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, who is one of the opening keynote speakers, will formally launch the application store, which is set to compete against Apple's App Store, Google's Android market and a host of other application stores that are forthcoming. The news was first reported by BusinessWeek.

The success of the BlackBerry App World will depend upon whether RIM can carve out a niche in the mobile application market and get developers to create applications specifically designed for BlackBerry users. RIM has told developers that they must charge a minimum of $2.99 for paid applications in the App World storefront. This is widely seen as a move to discourage the widespread use of some of the cheaper kinds of applications that have proven to be popular in Apple's App Store, as well as a way for RIM's effort to differentiate itself among its competitors.

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