The start of 2013 was filled with big hopes and dreams for the Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry. The technology giant launched its brand new BB10 mobile operating system along with a new all-touch Z10 smartphone. The device and platform were the first pieces of weaponry in the Waterloo-based firms comeback arsenal. The next big push will come with the Q10 device which has BlackBerry‘s signature QWERTY keyboard and is something purists have demanded from the firm. Canadian buyers will get a chance to buy the new smartphone in the coming week as the Canadian technology giant scrambles to add apps to BlackBerry World to attract new buyers. The company had promised its fans that they would deliver more content on their app store before the launch of the new BB10 platform and have managed to do that but they will need to add more big name apps in order to catch up to competitors. One piece of good news that came recently was the Microsoft owned Skype will be launching an app for BB10 giving users another reason to switch over to the platform.
The announcement from BlackBerry did not come with any specific timeline for the launch of the app but TechVibes predicts it should be available after May 1 launch of the Q10.
It is interesting to not that Skype took so long to launch an app for the BlackBerry platform even though the new platform and devices have done better than many expected. The early non-availability of apps like Skype and Netflix may have pushed potential buyers away from the platform and towards competitors like iOS and Android. This is something that BlackBerry has been trying to correct with the latest addition of apps but has not been able to do quickly enough. One of the reason for BlackBerry’s decline in market share is from the fact that it did not create a robust app environment for its users like other competitors.
Currently BlackBerry claims that its app store has 100,000 apps while competitors have much more. Apple’s iOS app store and Google’s Play store are around the 700,000 mark for apps and are rapidly growing with new content. BlackBerry’s platform consists mainly of apps that are ported from these two major platforms and is still missing some key names. This has been a major issue for the Canadian firm and it needs more victories like Skype to gain buyer attention and make a solid comeback.
Source: TechVibes
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