Dubai: The wait is finally over for diehard BlackBerry smartphone users in the United Arab Emirates.
Gulf News has learnt that Research in Motion (RIM) will officially launch in the UAE today its long-awaited BlackBerry App World with the full support of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
Sandeep Saihgal, managing director, RIM Middle East, said the new apps store will be user friendly.
"BlackBerry App World will provide easy access to a broad range of mobile applications and content, everything from entertainment to news and even utilities, and has been developed with the user experience firmly in mind," Saihgal told Gulf News. "Because the service is optimised for BlackBerry and builds on the user interface of the smartphone, it is easy to navigate, searchable, and intuitive. It's also a great way to bring together users with our developer community."
BlackBerry App World's debut in the UAE is an important milestone for Can-adian device maker RIM given that the BlackBerry is the preferred smart phone of choice in the country — especially among young tech-savvy Emiratis — for its encrypted BlackBerry Messenger service (BBM), suggested a survey conducted by the TRA in January.
Comparison
In the UAE, "BlackBerries are the most commonly used devices to access the internet approximately 37 per cent of the time," the TRA said, compared to iPhone which was used to access internet services 16 per cent of the time.
RIM sold 47.4 million smartphones globally in 2010 followed closely by Apple which sold 46.6 million iPhones, said global tech-research firm Gartner earlier this year. Total Middle East and Africa sales of mobile phones reached 155 million in 2010.
Mohammad Al Ganem, TRA director general, said that the BlackBerry App World's launch in the UAE is in keeping with the authority's strategy to support more mobile apps creation and accessibility in the country. "This is a great day for the Middle East application developer community. The TRA has a strategy to encourage and support developers in the UAE and with the launch of RIM's BlackBerry App World, we are eager to work with BlackBerry developers to provide the appropriate environment and assist them with accessing the required tools to create these applications. We will encourage the UAE universities to develop applications on BlackBerry devices," Al Ganem said in a statement.
Today's launch of BlackBerry App World comes six months after the TRA reversed its threat of an October 11, 2010 BlackBerry ban based upon earlier fears that features of the RIM smartphones such as BBM were posing threats to national security. TRA didn't follow through on the ban after high-level last-ditch talks resulted in "positive engagement and collaboration" with RIM at the time.
The developer community in the UAE, meanwhile, is encouraged by the launch of BlackBerry App World, said Saihgal."There's already so much enthusiasm for this product and we're seeing a great response from local developers," he said.
Accessing the new apps store in the UAE will be user friendly, said RIM.
Smart rise in handsets
- According to statistics recently released by intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC), 1.7 million smartphones were shipped to the UAE last year.
- There was a 46 per cent increase in the number of smartphones shipped to the UAE in 2010 from 1.2 million in 2009 to 1.7 million in 2010.
