Blackberry Releases New App Store

New payment methods, better search, and your own unique BlackBerry ID are just some of the improvements offered by Blackberry’s latest upgrade.

The new version arrives as RIM seeks to establish itself as a solid competitor against Apple's App Store and the Android Market and hold off the likes of Nokia's Ovi Store and Windows Mobile's App Marketplace.

Many important and long overdue changes have been implemented in the new App Store. Perhaps the most important change is the upgrade to the app browsing functionality, which allows users to scroll through the top 25 free and paid apps, as well as new and recently updated applications, all of which are similar to the App Store layout.

As far as app discovery goes, BlackBerry App World now features tabbed sections with the top 25 lists for free apps, paid apps, newest apps, recently updated apps, and themes. Finally, a feature well-known to iPhone and Android users — QR barcode scanning — is now available to BlackBerry users as well.

BlackBerry App World 2.0 also allows smartphone users to pay for their apps via credit cards as well as PayPal, while in the US BlackBerry owners will be able to charge apps to their mobile bill with certain networks.

Although these improvements are likely to please Blackberry users in general, it’s the developers who seem to be getting a poor deal from the upgrade. RIM’s generous revenue share split is being cut from 80/20 to 70/30 percent which is how Apple and Android split revenue amongst their developers. However, the news is not all bad as the reduced revenue split is offset by the fact that a developer now has a greater opportunity for their applications to reach more users in more places and there are more ways for customers to purchase these apps.

Once you've paid for and downloaded apps, you might like to consider Blackberry insurance, which offers 3GB of free data backup - so your contacts and apps are safe even if your phone is lost or stolen.