@ CTIA: BlackBerry App World Goes Live

imageResearch In Motion issued a press release this morning, saying that the BlackBerry App World can now be downloaded by users. It’s available by visiting www.blackberry.com/appworld from your BlackBerry. Features include: the ability to search by keyword and category; user reviews; a top downloads area, and My World, which shows a list of all the applications downloaded. Stay tuned since RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) will likely provide more details at this morning’s CTIA keynote.

The company expects 1,000 free and paid applications to launch this week, ranging from Pandora to Shazam and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT). Others that have already put out press releases include TeleNav and QuickPlay. What’s interesting is that RIM is partnering with the companies to achieve tight integration of the applications on to its platform, much like it did with Facebook and MySpace. The approach is different from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), which has released a developer kit, and then mostly leaves the developer on its own to make the applications. Likewise, it’s completely different than Nokia’s approach, which is to partner for some applications, but then make a wide range of apps themselves, such as music, maps, games, etc.

A good example of this is the new application built by QuickPlay, which allows users to download full-length TV shows over Wi-Fi and then watch them when they want (although the content will eventually expire). The service, called PrimeTime2Go, costs $7.99 a month, and content partners include NBC, CBS (NYSE: CBS) and MTV. While Research In Motion opted to let QuickPlay to build the app, others, like Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) will be making its own video-subscription service.

RIM’s approach is smart. While they are investing some resources into it and working closely with QuickPlay, which is another Canadian company, it’s not so invested in the product that they’ll be devastated if it flops. That’s because the BlackBerry brand isn’t associated with it and they can easily switch to a new platform in the future. The unknown factor is whether BlackBerry sees applications like these as a revenue source, or as a way to sell more devices — the $7.99 a month can only be split so many ways, and the work RIM is putting into it doesn’t represent a trivial cost.

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