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Mar. 30, 2009

Rumors are still mounting that Research In Motion (RIM) will announce the opening of its highly anticipated Blackberry App World this week at CTIA Wireless 2009 in Vegas.

There’s a lot of buzz that RIM will also announce a BlackBerry TV service as part of its new app store.

New-TV Magazine cited some sources in a report that outlined RIM's new TV service. The report said that the service would be a monthly unlimited subscription-based service which will download programs in the background over Wi-Fi instead of the wireless carrier line.

The report went on to say that “multiple broadcast and cable networks have already licensed content for the new device.”

RIM, whose co-CEO Mike Lazaridis will be a keynote speaker at the CTIA trade show on April 1st joins a growing number of platforms and mobile handsets that have opened or will be opening mobile application stores.

Apple, Nokia, Google's Android and Samsung are just a few that already have app stores or that are planning them soon.

Apple is largely seen as having set the bar in the mobile app world. Generally attributed to the ease of access and integration with the Apple operating system, the big success of Apple’s App Store is creating followers of its own formula.

Apple reported 500 million app downloads in its first six months when it opened in October.

Two weeks ago, Microsoft announced the release of a SDK (software development kit) and mobile developer guidelines for Windows Marketplace. The software giant’s plans were almost identical to those offered at the Apple App Store, including a 70/30 profit sharing formula: the developer gets 70 percent of the profits, while the app store gets 30 percent, which is apparently becoming the industry standard.

In a note to clients, Goldman analyst Simona Jankowski kept her buy rating and $57 price target for the stock, predicting RIM will meet fourth-quarter and first-quarter guidance – something she thinks will help its stock.

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Source: P.B. News.