Dubai: Research in Motion (RIM) is moving ahead to bring its popular BlackBerry App World store to the Middle East, says a senior official with the Canadian-based smartphone manufacturer.
But no firm date is yet available as to when hundreds of thousands of BlackBerry users in the Middle East and the UAE will be able to download tailor-made applications directly to their phones.
Khalid Kefel, general manager Middle East for Blackberry, confirmed access will be granted soon to handset owners who are frustrated that other brand users can directly download apps from the Apple iTunes store or Nokia's Ovi without any problems from the Middle East.
"We are very committed to make this happen in the region," Kefel told Gulf News in an interview at the first Middle East Blackberry Developer Day in Dubai. "This will come out very soon."
When pressed for a rough time frame when access could be forthcoming, Kefel said he couldn't elaborate, noting that RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie "has committed to this."
Demand is high for BlackBerry apps according to RIM numbers that show there are 55 million active users of the firm's smartphones, 35 million of which have used App World since its launch in April 2009.
App World is available in 70 countries and six languages and enjoys two million downloads a day yet the service is still unavailable in the Middle East almost two years after it was rolled out.
The lack of App World access for BlackBerry users in the region was raised by one of roughly 100 apps, java and web developers attending the developer day at Art Sawa in Dubai on Wednesday.
The unidentified developer queried why developers should create new apps in the Middle East for BlackBerry users if they can't or don't have access to their own brand apps store.
Developer options
Kefel acknowledged the frustration but noted that for now, developers have several options to make their new BlackBerry apps public, including making them available on their own websites and by giving them to operators who can push the apps to their community.
Developers can also post their new apps, if approved by BlackBerry, to App World where global exposure can greatly increase the profile of the application, he said.
Jigar Budhdev is manager of Value Added Services for EMS, a Dubai-based mobile solutions company that has strategically partnered with BlackBerry to provide scores of apps on its website www.ayoworld.com.
The company also acts as a distributor in the region of BlackBerry phones and offers repair services, he said.
The website offers 2,000 content items, including BlackBerry apps that can now be accessed for download in the Middle East offering an alternative until the BlackBerry Apps World store becomes available, he said.
Budhdev said EMS is developing Blackberry apps with several app developers worldwide and gives "assistance to local developers" by offering access to RIM, carriers, bulk sales and new handsets.
David Ashford, general manager of appsarabia — an apps publisher powered by Abu Dhabi-based twofour54 — said that despite concerns of App World's absence in the Middle East, he's eager to invest in BlackBerry apps.
The region, Ashford said, is ripe for the emergence of new apps given the large population under 25, one of the highest penetration mobile phone rates in the world and the high popularity of BlackBerry smartphones in the UAE.
"I have it on good authority from RIM that it's (App World) is coming and that's the reason I want to invest. I want to get apps from BlackBerry because I trust it. I know an app from BlackBerry will be virus free and safe."
Secure payment
Ashford said that he understands that once an apps store is established in the region, "it will be in local currency" and purchasers without credit cards can opt to use a secure electronics payment service.
A new regional e-pay service similar to PayPal, Ashford said, could help kickstart apps sales in the UAE and beyond.
Since launching in June 2010, appsarabia has helped cover the cost of development of approved new app ideas with a long view of creating competition in the UAE that fosters a sustainable apps industry, he said
In return, appsarabia asks for a small portion of revenues that apps generate over the long term.
"We're helping developers. Anyone who has an idea for an app, we can help them launch it and make money from it," Ashford said.
To date, appsarabia has 10 projects under development in the Mena region, Ashford said.
"So far, it's a mix of Nokia, Apple and BlackBerry. We will be launching our first app very soon. We're planning on launching about 15 apps in 2011," he said.
Other large firms in the UAE are also moving into the apps market including Emirates airline's IT division that employs 1,800 staff, of which, 30 are now working on a series of new apps to help both travelling consumers as well as internal airline staff.
Neetan Chopra, Emirates vice-president IT Strategy and Architecture, said the division is looking for new apps that will help streamline 30 to 40 critical missions within the daily operations of the airline.
Thanks to the trend of some of the airline's 42,000 staff bringing their own smartphone devices to work, staff can benefit from apps.
For example, simple apps such as Emirates new Cabin Crew App can inform crew members with whom they will be working on any given flight to destinations around the world.
Sanjay Sharma, Emirates Project Manager said the Cabin Crew App is one of five just released including a movie app, an in-house purchasing monitor app, a booked-seats app as well as another in which staff do periodic in-flight surveys to monitor quality.
As many as 15 further apps are under development at Emirates for release in coming months, Sharma said.
"I think we will see many more apps, they are limitless," Sharma told Gulf News.
Incentive
To encourage regional creation of new smartphone apps, BlackBerry will give a new PlayBook tablet to Middle East development firms that come up with a winning app that is submitted and received by mid-March and approved for the App World store.
The new PlayBook is set to launch sometime in the first quarter of this year not long after it was first showcased publicly in the Middle East by RIM coCEO Jim Balsillie at Dubai's Gitex in November.
Sales of BlackBerry apps from App World are expected to spike after the launch of the new RIM tablet that weighs only 400 grams and features a seven-inch screen, a one GHz core processor and one GB of ram. The BlackBerry PlayBook is RIM's answer to Apple's iPad.
Sanyu Kiruluta, RIM's team leader for developer relations in EMEA, said the invitation to developers to get a free PlayBook has not been done before.
"It's good to get the community engaged," she said.
In her presentation, Kiruluta told developers that a paramount consideration when designing apps is to keep them simple.
Elaborate applications that are visually similar to traditional web pages with graphics are not the ideal means to attract users, she said.
"Don't try to emulate the desktop," Kiruluta said, adding that Blackberry users are very task oriented. "You need to make your design, your application with that in mind…try to be as processor sensitive as possible."
Simple apps are more friendly to BlackBerry smartphones when they stay away from features that draw heavily on battery power. "Send only the necessary data and only when necessary," Kirululta said. "Be really smart about it."
Future
Smartphone app store downloads are expected to cross 17.7 billion downloads in 2011, a 117 per cent increase from the estimated 8.2 billion downloads in 2010, says technical research firm Gartner, Inc.
Within the next three years, Gartner believes 185 billion applications will have been downloaded since the launch of the first mobile app in July 2008.
In a statement, Gartner said total app store revenue may surpass $15.1 billion (Dh55.4 billion) in 2011, a 190 per cent increase from 2010 revenue of $1.4 billion.
"Many are wondering if the app frenzy we have been witnessing is just a fashion, and, like many others, it shall pass. We do not think so," said Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner.
"We strongly believe there is a sizable opportunity for application stores in the future. However, applications will have to grow up and deliver a superior experience to the one that a Web-based app will be able to deliver.
"Native apps will survive the Web enhancements only when they will provide a more-personal and richer experience to the "vanilla" experience that a Web-based app will deliver."