1. WZFoster's Avatar
    BlackBerry to Announce Deal With Amazon to Gain Access to Appstore - WSJ

    BlackBerry Ltd. is expected to announce later Wednesday a deal with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -0.61% to gain access to the e-commerce giant's Appstore for mobile devices, a move the Canadian company hopes will boost sales of its latest smartphones.

    The partnership is meant to expand BlackBerry's current offering of games, video, music and other mobile apps to help make its smartphones more appealing to consumers, while allowing it to concentrate on developing security and other apps that appeal to the firm's targeted corporate and government market as it tries to regain market share.

    "We can leverage what [Amazon] can offer," while providing the Seattle, Wash., company with access to BlackBerry's customer base, John Chen, BlackBerry's chief executive, said in an interview.

    An Amazon spokeswoman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

    Still, even with this deal, BlackBerry's selection of apps falls short of those offered by Apple Inc. AAPL -0.13% and Google Inc. GOOGL -0.31%

    BlackBerry, Waterloo, Ontario, currently offers about 130,000 apps through its own online store, compared with more than one million each for Apple's App Store and Google Inc.'s Google Play. Its selection also doesn't include some of the most popular apps such as Groupon, Netflix, NFLX +3.11% Pinterest and Candy Crush. The Amazon deal addresses these problems to some degree by giving BlackBerry customers access to these apps as part of the more than 240,000 that the Amazon Appstore offers for Android-powered phones, for a total of about 370,000 apps.

    BlackBerry said it would preload Amazon's app store on its devices in the fall at the time the latest version of the BlackBerry 10 operating system is launched. BlackBerry customers can now download apps from the Amazon Appstore, but the process is more cumbersome.

    The Amazon partnership comes the day before BlackBerry is scheduled to report its fiscal first-quarter results. Investors expect the company to report a loss because it is still in the middle of its turnaround effort. But a loss is likely to increase the focus on Mr. Chen's stated efforts to introduce new software and security features to make its devices more appealing to enterprise customers.

    The Amazon deal could help BlackBerry achieve that goal by reducing the pressure it faces to support and secure many consumer-focused apps, while freeing up those resources to develop software applications that appeal to enterprise customers.

    "I do not have to spend time, energy and money" developing apps that Amazon offers, Mr. Chen said. "Given I want to financially turn around the company and focus on the enterprise space, this is perfect for us."

    Amazon also is expected Wednesday to launch its own smartphone, creating another potential competitor for BlackBerry in an already crowded and competitive device market.

    Mr. Chen doesn't believe Amazon's new device undercuts BlackBerry's app partnership with Amazon.

    "Our focuses are different," he said. "My devices are focused on the enterprise, highly secure," whereas the Amazon phone is more targeted at the consumer, he said.
    06-18-14 06:16 AM
  2. m1kr0's Avatar
    Yes yes yes yes yes!!!!!!

    Z10 STL100-1, OS 10.2.1.3175
    06-18-14 06:20 AM
  3. bobo616's Avatar
    Wow, if this is true it is great news.

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:20 AM
  4. moosbb's Avatar
    Wooooooow!

    What a news if true!
    06-18-14 06:23 AM
  5. Deitzanova's Avatar
    Hmmm... Interesting!

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:24 AM
  6. WZFoster's Avatar
    WSJ has a good track record with these things, don't fail me now!

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:29 AM
  7. Peevish's Avatar
    So maybe they will finally add BBM to the Amazon app store.

    Posted via CB10
    SmileDahling likes this.
    06-18-14 06:30 AM
  8. neteng1000's Avatar
    Does this include Google services as well?

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:33 AM
  9. WZFoster's Avatar
    Does this include Google services as well?

    Posted via CB10
    Doubt it. That might be more of an OS issue than an app store issue.

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:34 AM
  10. menshawy's Avatar
    I hope it would be integrated in the app world or a BlackBerry 10 native app at least

    Posted via CB10
    GodGibson likes this.
    06-18-14 06:34 AM
  11. NG888's Avatar
    Good Move
    06-18-14 06:37 AM
  12. m1kr0's Avatar
    So maybe they will finally add BBM to the Amazon app store.

    Posted via CB10
    I would expect so. Tit for tat.

    Z10 STL100-1, OS 10.2.1.3175
    06-18-14 06:39 AM
  13. MAJ009's Avatar
    Nice...looking forward to it.

    CAUTION : MAJ On Z30 Now!!!!
    06-18-14 06:42 AM
  14. WZFoster's Avatar
    I would expect so. Tit for tat.

    Z10 STL100-1, OS 10.2.1.3175
    Hopefully but who is really helping who the most. I don't think Amazon wants BBM in return, it would be nice but I think amazon just wants to expand its reach.

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:43 AM
  15. Deckard79's Avatar
    Nice!

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:46 AM
  16. schmeat's Avatar
    This is a double edged sword. There is no incentive to develop a native app for BlackBerry world now.

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:47 AM
  17. WZFoster's Avatar
    Like there really was one previously

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-14 06:48 AM
  18. coldRooster's Avatar
    I hate the amazon store.

    Posted via CB10
    techvisor and lerimer like this.
    06-18-14 06:49 AM
  19. TBone4eva's Avatar
    Ok, so what did Amazon get in return? It has to be more than just BlackBerry users. It would be really nice if this Amazon phone was powered by BB10.
    06-18-14 06:51 AM
  20. TBone4eva's Avatar
    This is a double edged sword. There is no incentive to develop a native app for BlackBerry world now.

    Posted via CB10
    Let's be honest, there is currently no other way for BlackBerry to get more apps in BlackBerry World until their marketshare improves. Developers are just not creating native apps for BB10. A move had to be made and in my mind this was the only move BlackBerry could make.
    jcbrunson likes this.
    06-18-14 06:54 AM
  21. leafs123's Avatar
    Does this include Google services as well?

    Posted via CB10
    No, Amazon devices do not have Google play services. They're not part of the Android alliance.
    kbz1960 likes this.
    06-18-14 06:55 AM
  22. Gykesdollars's Avatar
    Apps in Amazon app store is not available to most countries outside US. i wonder how this will play out for African, East European and Asian countries
    randall2580 and kevinnugent like this.
    06-18-14 06:55 AM
  23. TBone4eva's Avatar
    Does this include Google services as well?

    Posted via CB10
    Amazon doesn't have Google Services either, but Android developers have been way more willing to support Amazon's platform with their apps then they have with BB10 so it helps.
    06-18-14 06:57 AM
  24. lynxs_claw's Avatar
    It a step in the right direction to address the app gap officially
    techvisor likes this.
    06-18-14 07:00 AM
  25. m1kr0's Avatar
    Apps in Amazon app store is not available to most countries outside US. i wonder how this will play out for African, East European and Asian countries
    I'm in Johannesburg and I have access to the Amazon app store. Have downloaded from there before.

    Z10 STL100-1, OS 10.2.1.3175
    06-18-14 07:04 AM
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