BlackBerry Prepping For 'App World' Launch

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion said Wednesday that the application store once known as the Application Store Front is now called BlackBerry App World.

RIM also plans to update the App World site for developers. It is slated to relaunch Wednesday at 10 p.m. E.T.

At the same time, RIM will launch a signup page for users who want to be alerted when the BlackBerry App World goes live, which RIM has said will be sometime this month.

RIM unveiled the BlackBerry application store in October. Taking cues from Apple's popular AppStore for the iPhone and Google Android's Android Market, BlackBerry's App World is a repository where users can find and download applications to their BlackBerry smartphones and developers can contribute applications.

BlackBerry started accepting applications and content from BlackBerry developers in January.

According to BlackBerry, developers will be able to set their own prices for applications through App World and they will retain 80 percent of the revenue brought in from their applications. RIM is working with eBay-owned online payment service PayPal to provide consumers with a payment method for applications, which can be purchased directly from smartphones.

BlackBerry has also said that it plans to allow companies with BlackBerry Enterprise Server or BlackBerry Professional Software to have control over which applications corporate users can download and use on their devices.