BlackBerry App World has just 1m downloads per day

BlackBerry App World has under a tenth the popularity of the iPhone's app store, RIM's co-CEO Mike Lazaridis inadvertently confirmed as part of his analyst discussion today. With 20 million total users, App World sees just one million downloads per day versus 10 to 20 million at the Apple portal. The estimate came after SAI noted that Apple's download count jumped by a billion between January and mid-April.

Such a disparity is magnified by RIM's performance in the market. While it still outsells Apple in sheer units, the scale of its mobile app platform has failed to scale relative to the number of phone owners.

The reasons behind the seeming shortfall haven't been explained but may be functions of both the range of apps and the focuses of the phones themselves. App World as of last week had under 7,000 apps versus over 185,000 for the iPhone's store. Many of RIM's customers are also more likely to be business customers that use e-mail almost exclusively and either can't or won't download extra apps where iPhone owners tend to use their devices primarily for personal use.

The BlackBerry has also had a problem with exposure, as App World is often strictly an optional download where the App Store is loaded by default on every iPhone. RIM's policies for the store also require that any paid app cost at least $3, creating a possible psychological barrier to purchasing apps.

By Electronista Staff

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iPhone, industry, BlackBerry, Research in Motion, App Store, mobile phones, Apple, BlackBerry App World