BlackBerry App World adds online purchases

Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) unveiled an updated BlackBerry App World storefront enabling consumers to purchase and download applications directly via the web. In addition to PC-based application browsing and buying, the expanded BlackBerry App World features Edit My World accounts to synchronize app downloads directly to BlackBerry smartphones--consumers also can read and write reviews, recommend items to peers and access purchased or downloaded apps using the My World page.

RIM rolled out a revamped BlackBerry App World in late July--the store now supports credit card payments on top of PayPal, with a handful of carrier partners supporting operator billing options as well. BlackBerry App World surpassed the 10,000 application benchmark last month; RIM recently stated that more than 30 million BlackBerry smartphone users across 65 countries have downloaded the store client since App World first opened in spring 2009, with consumers averaging more than a million app downloads each day. The BlackBerry platform currently represents 18.2 percent of the worldwide smartphone market according to data issued last month by research firm Gartner, behind Symbian at 41.2 percent.

For more on the BlackBerry App World update:
- read this release

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