As Research in Motion prepares to open its Blackberry Application Center to answer the iPhone’s App Store, an unaffiliated startup called the BerryStore has already launched a competing app store for Blackberry Apps. What makes it better than the official BlackBerry App Center (besides the name), is that apps in the BerryStore work across both old and new BlackBerries alike (not just the upcoming BlackBerry Storm), and across carriers. The BlackBerry App center, in contrast, is designed to be a carrier-specific store, with different apps for different carriers.
AYou can download the BerryStore as an app itself by visiting www.berrystore.com on your BlackBerry. (The App Center will require users to download apps through their Blackberry browsers, which is not the best experience). Already there are about 40 apps in the store, ranging from Loopt, 3Jam, and TwitterBerry to Obopay, Citysense, and Google Mobile. All of them are currently free, although the company plans on offering paid apps in the future. Developers can get more details about how to submit apps or the BerryStore here.
Below is a list of each app currently in the BerryStore with a short description:
Books & Reference
NeoReader: Turns your Blackberry into a barcode scanner.
Blackberry Wiki: Wikipedia reader.
Beyond411: Yellow pages, maps, and directions.
MobipocketReader: Mobile e-reader.
Business & Finance
Obopay: P2P payments.
Bank of America: Manage your dwindling bank account.
NyTimes DealBook: A bookmark icon to the popular blog.
E-Trade Mobile Pro: Manage your dwindling stock portfolio.
Lifestyle
Google Mobile: Search, Maps, Gmail.
Opera: Opera Mini Web browser.
Zumobi:Mobile widgets.
Google Mail: As in Gmail.
Poynt: Local search.
Maufait InstaFind: Al-in-one 411, flight tracker, movie showtimes, stock quotes, weather, news.
Puretracks:Mobile music store.
Tellme: Voice-enabled GPS info.
reQall: Voice-to-text recorder, to-do list, and idea manager.
Nobex Radio Companion: Shows you the name of the songs playing on the radio.
News & Weather
Viigo: News, sports, entertainment, weather, stock and traffic alerts.
New York Times: Bookmark icon.
ABC News: Bookmark icon.
The Washington Post: Bookmark icon.
CNBC Mobile: Bookmark icon.
USA Today: Bookmark icon.
Slate: Bookmark icon.
PinStack.com: Forums
Social Networking
TwitterBerry: Mobile Twitter client that avoids SMS charges.
3jam: Group text messages.
eBuddy: Instant messaging app
Dexrex: Archives your text messages.
Pinger: Voice IM.
Sports
Sports Illustrated: Bookmark icon.
ESPN Mobile: Bookmark icon.
Travel & Navigation
Google Maps: What it sounds like.
GPSed: Map your GPS tracks, save them, and share them. Also geotags your photos.
Citysense: Live hotspot tracking.
WorldMate Live: A personal digital assistant for travelers
Utilities
Box.net: Access and share files on your BB.
AutoLock: Locks the keyboard.
MidpSSH: Connect to remote servers.
MiniMoni: Monitor IP traffic.
your list proves its a app jungle out there. do we seriously need to create more?
CenterLocator.com – in the middle of it.
I think I wll forget the Blackberry “Application Center” after I read this.
Score! Seriously happy about this!
I know the BB Storm is gonna be cool and all, but why ignore the millions of other BB users around the world and not have an app store for us?
Good for BerryStore.
Noticed it is missing the WSJ app. Only mention it because it is a real app, not a short cut icon like the other news ‘apps’ in the BerryStore.
I like the idea and hope they will be successful. I got an error starting the app first time. Application just hangs trying to download Loopt now.
their servers could be slammed right now…..
This is awesome! I’ve always been envious of other people’s iPhones and their AppStore app. Now I have to find something else to be envious about. Good job and keep up the good work!!
This is cool news. Glad to see their is plenty of competition in the BlackBerry market. Definitely good for those consumers.
um, this is awesome! its been tough to keep up with all the apps being released. this thing makes it SO simple to install and manage my installed apps. The other thing is that it knew what I had installed before I installed berrystore so now I can manage those apps using berrystore too.
sweeeeet!
Looking forward to exploring the store – I downloaded the app, but can’t access it yet. Everyone’s probably trying to get in the store at the same time as a result of this article. It’s Black Friday at the BerryStore!
Cool lifestyle app that may be downloaded outside the store … http://www.buzzd.com – if Yelp and Facebook had a baby.
People always talk down the BlackBerry saying it’s not being as useful as the iphone so this is is great news! Thanks for the info.
FYI: You misspelled “TwitterBerry” as “Titterberry” under the list of social networking apps.
Mobile life seems to get better and better. I cannot imagine how things are going to change in the next 5 years; hopefully for the better of course!!
Jesse W.
http://churchof....wordpress.com/
Now THIS is an awesome find. I was wondering why the app center was only available for the new BB. It made no sense… this is great!
Umm..this is so already done and done way better. CrackBerry.com has a Mobile App Store, launched a couple weeks ago.
Crackberry.com/appstore (installs a shortcut onto your blackberry) or go to mobile.crackberry.com and click into the App Store from there. hundreds of blackberry apps and themes.
Umm..I’ve checked out Crackberry and they actually suck compared to this. Their webpages look like $h*t compared to this guy’s berrystore app. Berrystore is quite slick..
Guys,
Just to set the record straight: there are thousands of FREE BlackBerry apps available on http://www.getjar.com. They’ve been there for years. Soon, we’ll offer paid apps as well. But for now they’re all free (or demo).
Regards,
Bill
Ah – Thank you for this find! Now tell me when can ‘I get bold’?
agree
I’ve tested it, it’s one of the most useful tools for my BlackBerry Bold
This phone is pretty sweet. I have to say though, the NEW G1 is looking to impress all avid phone lovers. Check it out here:
http://www.gotoguy.com/?p=297
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I’ve been an avid BB user since the first year they launched. Great to hear the BerryStore is finally in play as searching for apps for the BB has always been time-consuming.
Now if only RIM could persuade AT&T and T-Mobile to release the damn BOLD in the US before the end of the year, we might actually get a chance to actually try the BerryStore apps on it.
I split time between the US and Europe and everybody I know in Europe loves their BB Bold and it works great. It’s ridiculous to have to wait 18-24 months for an updated device. If I didn’t believe the BB is a superior device for business people, I’d have chucked my recent one and defected to iPhone already…and that day may be coming sooner than later if the damn Bold isn’t released in the US soon.
Just tried it on my 8310 on O2 UK, when I ran it for the first time I got this easy to understand error message:
“Couldn’t get version: com.facebook.thrift.transport.TTransportException : Throwable: java.io.IOException: Invalid tunnel name”
The Storm will be my first BB which will probably be true for quite a few people so this will be a real help to those of us that have no previous exposure to BB applications.
This is Sean over at Box.net – this is pretty exciting stuff. With the app stores from RIM, Apple and Google’s Android platform, the competition will be unbelievable. As a tech fan and a consumer, I can’t wait to see what all of this will bring to the mobile platform. And as a provider of mobile services, we’re looking forward to what the market has to say and what we can bring to the table.
Lovin’ the NeoReader!
The best mobile code reader available for the Blackberry.
Store of sweet Berry’s
The BerryStore does have a very slick interface. What is most remarkable is that they managed to keep the news on the down low this whole time. It think it’s going to make a lot of the other app stores sweat. Our application, WHERE is now available in the BerryStore and we look forward to the store’s success.
*****
Original post by dmtelf
Quote:
“dmtelf – October 7th, 2008 at 7:41 am PDT
Just tried it on my 8310 on O2 UK, when I ran it for the first time I got this easy to understand error message:
“Couldn’t get version: com.facebook.thrift.transport.TTransportException : Throwable: java.io.IOException: Invalid tunnel name””
*****
I’m getting this same error – could it be something to do with the firewall?
I have Bold running OS .162
Anyone can help please?
Chris & dmtelf -
Fred from BerryStore, here. Sorry you ran into this bug. We have a fix for this that we’d like to test with you. If you send an email to beta@berrystore.com, I can give you a download link.
The most recent version works OK on my 8310 & Bold. Thanks.
I know about some forum over at http://www.blac...ryappcenter.com. There’es really nobody participating in the forums though, but we’ll see what happens as the app center becomes more popular. I can’t imagine that this site would get big.
does this work on the storm?
Yes, it works just fine on the Storm.
I am experiencing the following error:
Couldn’t get version: com.facebook.thrift.transport.TTransportException: Throwable:net.rim.device.cldc.io.ippp.SocketBaseIOException: Connection refused: connect
Any assistance would be appreciated.
My apologies on previous post.
I have a new Storm.
I am experiencing the following error:
Couldn’t get version: com.facebook.thrift.transport.TTransportException: Throwable:net.rim.device.cldc.io.ippp.SocketBaseIOException: Connection refused: connect
Any assistance would be appreciated.
I just got the storm and was comparing it to my brothers iphone. The iphone had so many applications that were available. Some pretty cool things such as a lie-detector and even an application that hears the music playing and can detect what the name of the song and the artist. Does BB ever plan on making applications like this available to users?
I seriously think someone needs to sit down and convert all the iphone applications so that they are usable on the Blackberry Storm!
That would be GREAT!!
there are not so much blackberry apps as iphone apps. I agree “bren commnet” ,if we can convert iphone apps to BlackBerry platform, it will be wonderful.
I have Viigo on my Bold and loving it. Great way to quickly stay up on my reading and socially share content I like – newspapers are dead to me now….
I needed fast typing app and I have got one at Blackberry Storm Apps it
is almost free (only $0.99). I like this app and its really cool…
Looks cool but frustrating to attempt to use on my storm! I gave up… doesn’t support landscape, scroll is quirky, can’t select the app you want (seems to be random)… I can’t wait till they fix it but till then it is just taking up space on a storm.
BlackBery app world has come out, http://www.blac...y.com/appworld/ , there are many BlackBerry applications you can download , but it price so much!
Someone needs to update their information! The link posted takes me to a page that says “The BerryStore is closed. Visit BlackBerry World Apps”. Looks to me like BB didn’t want the competition…