What is the State of Affairs on BlackBerry App World?

In anticipation of my new BlackBerry Passport, I spent some time on BlackBerry World. It's been a while since I've been on BlackBerry World beyond just retrieving and installing my already purchased apps, and I have to say that I am extremely saddened by what I observed.

BlackBerry World looks like a desolate plain, devoid of virtually and and all existence. Most apps on there have not been updated in ages. New and existing apps are largely consisting of "app for X" apps and viewers, hundreds, if not thousands, of them. They are all useless garbage. Ironically, more od these types of apps are being added too. The state is really sad.

Only a handful of developers seem to actually be active, and they do produce some high quality apps, however, even some BlackBerry traditionalists have abandoned BlackBerry World.

What are everyone's thoughts on this? I'm extremely saddened by the situation personally, and I don't think that we will see things get any better. I'm glad we got Amazon App Store as an option because without it, BlackBerry would literally have no apps. Maybe one day BlackBerry World will become the enterprise/productivity application hub, but for now it's a lonely, lonely place.

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You do realize that a solid app does not need constant updates, right? Androids get far too many updates for me to stay on that platform. I do not want to have to update apps every time I pick up my device. The reason for the constant updates is the Eco-system is so fractured. BlackBerry World does not have that problem. Your complaint about the lack of new apps is valid, however.

It is what it is.

Very SAD that a platform that has so much potential is being ignored by so many developers. And it's sad that BlackBerry doesn't clean out BlackBerry World... they did try to get rid of the "app for" apps, but these guys just changed the names and BlackBerry let it fly.

Originally Posted by mkelley65

You do realize that a solid app does not need constant updates, right? Androids get far too many updates for me to stay on that platform. I do not want to have to update apps every time I pick up my device. The reason for the constant updates is the Eco-system is so fractured. BlackBerry World does not have that problem. Your complaint about the lack of new apps is valid, however.

Absolutely. I think badly designed apps need constant updates, and that is very prominently visible on the Android platform, partly because of fragmentation, sure, but mostly because of a tremendous number of bugs that are never really addressed properly. With that said though, when I say "apps haven't been updated in ages", I mean primarily to address bugs and user concerns. So many apps that were promising in the beginning, simply fizzled out. Developers stopped supporting them all together, so much so that many are not and never will be compatible with any newer devices or even newer OS releases. I guess I have to disagree with the reason for no updates being that the apps are good. They aren't, most anyway. A large number of them have a lot of issues and are never, and never will be, updated.

Originally Posted by scalemaster34

It is what it is.

Very SAD that a platform that has so much potential is being ignored by so many developers. And it's sad that BlackBerry doesn't clean out BlackBerry World... they did try to get rid of the "app for" apps, but these guys just changed the names and BlackBerry let it fly.

Completely agree on both fronts. They definitely need a better system for cleaning up garbage. I would say that the store should be set up such that if an app hasn't had any updates in a year and all feedback over the last 6 months has been 2 stars or less, the apps are automatically removed from BlackBerry World (of course after giving the developer an opportunity to rectify the situation). Something along those lines.

I hope BB will clean out the junk and allow native apps with good design to shine in BB world. Forget about quantity, and focus on great productivity apps. Reward those few developers who genuinely care about the platform.

Let everything else go to Amazon.


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Originally Posted by scalemaster34

It is what it is.

Very SAD that a platform that has so much potential is being ignored by so many developers. And it's sad that BlackBerry doesn't clean out BlackBerry World... they did try to get rid of the "app for" apps, but these guys just changed the names and BlackBerry let it fly.

5 words: Kill the Mippin App Generator

It's just stupid
I say kill the goddamn app generator and clean up the ones in BlackBerry World and you'll see how much cleaner it'll look in there

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