BlackBerry has made a renewed push for the enterprise sector, which has traditionally been its strength. After last year's thrust on consumer-centric apps, the company's focus this year is on apps for the enterprise, says Annie Mathew, Director, Alliances and Business Development, BlackBerry, India, in an email interaction with Abhik Sen. Edited excerpts:
Where do apps fit into BlackBerry’s overall strategy?
Mobile applications are an important ingredient to BlackBerry’s core strategy as it is becoming a key driver to increase consumer engagement in and out of the enterprise. Today, consumers are dependent on applications as a way of life and with the adoption of smartphones at a fast pace, enterprises see an opportunity to increase collaboration and productivity via mobile apps; we see that the application ecosystem is going to get further evolved.
From BlackBerry’s perspective, we are focusing on increasing our user engagement and provide the best experience to our consumers. Thus, with the launch of BlackBerry 10.2.1 OS, customers could side-load Android apps on BlackBerry 10 devices.
Additionally, we recently announced the availability of Amazon Appstore with the launch of the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system this Fall. With more than 240,000 Android applications in the Amazon Appstore worldwide, BlackBerry 10 device customers will have access to popular apps such as Pinterest, Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft.
What’s in it for developers?
From a developer ecosystem perspective, BlackBerry and Amazon will be working with the BlackBerry application developer community to help them migrate their apps to the Amazon Appstore in preparation for the 10.3 launch. The developers will benefit from the store’s powerful promotional tools that enable maximum discoverability and profitability. This will include Appstore Developer Select, which provides enhanced merchandising, as well as Amazon Coins incentives, the Developer Promotions Console, which enables real-time pricing adjustments and specials, and the popular Free App of the Day program.
How many apps are available in BlackBerry World? What are the popular categories among consumers?
At present, we have a total of over 2,50,000 applications globally on BlackBerry World and one of the largest developer bases in India with over 43,000 developers as we continue to strengthen our application ecosystem. Some of the popular free apps are BBM, connect to Dropbox, Picmix for BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry news stand and popular paid apps are Angry Birds Star Wars, the Froggie games, faceflow video chat, star tracker, Beweather 10 pro, money plus, color ID.
Productivity and games are the most popular category of apps in India and it amply states the convergence of the work life and personal life on a BlackBerry.
How important are apps to capture the evolving consumer base defined by smartphone devices? What are the measures BlackBerry is undertaking to target these consumers?
In an ever-changing world of technology, smartphone manufacturers are constantly trying to get the edge over one another. The number of apps available on a mobile platform plays a huge factor when potential consumers are selecting their perfect device, but equally important is the ability to switch between work and fun in a seamless manner at the same time ensuring data security. Over the years, the demand and popularity of mobile apps have risen dramatically and on the basis of this rise in consumer preference, we introduced iOS and Android apps on BlackBerry in Jan 2014. This strategic move has helped us reach out to a large consumer base. BBM has been one of our strongest instant messaging applications which has been successful across platform. BBM has an audience of over 80 million monthly active users that continues to grow. BlackBerry Balance provides an enterprise with the ability to partition the device into work space and personal space thereby allowing seamless switch between work apps and fun apps.
As I mentioned, our focus this year will be on developing enterprise-based applications. Last year there were a lot of consumer apps coming out. You will see a huge focus on enterprise application and focus on different verticals such as health care, manufacturing, education, logistics & retails.
What are the app categories that are expected to rise to the forefront in 2014?
We are seeing a momentum in enterprise-based applications and are anticipating huge growth in that segment. Having said that, the consumer applications will continue to grow.
Where do apps fit into BlackBerry’s overall strategy?
Mobile applications are an important ingredient to BlackBerry’s core strategy as it is becoming a key driver to increase consumer engagement in and out of the enterprise. Today, consumers are dependent on applications as a way of life and with the adoption of smartphones at a fast pace, enterprises see an opportunity to increase collaboration and productivity via mobile apps; we see that the application ecosystem is going to get further evolved.
From BlackBerry’s perspective, we are focusing on increasing our user engagement and provide the best experience to our consumers. Thus, with the launch of BlackBerry 10.2.1 OS, customers could side-load Android apps on BlackBerry 10 devices.
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Additionally, we recently announced the availability of Amazon Appstore with the launch of the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system this Fall. With more than 240,000 Android applications in the Amazon Appstore worldwide, BlackBerry 10 device customers will have access to popular apps such as Pinterest, Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft.
What’s in it for developers?
From a developer ecosystem perspective, BlackBerry and Amazon will be working with the BlackBerry application developer community to help them migrate their apps to the Amazon Appstore in preparation for the 10.3 launch. The developers will benefit from the store’s powerful promotional tools that enable maximum discoverability and profitability. This will include Appstore Developer Select, which provides enhanced merchandising, as well as Amazon Coins incentives, the Developer Promotions Console, which enables real-time pricing adjustments and specials, and the popular Free App of the Day program.
How many apps are available in BlackBerry World? What are the popular categories among consumers?
At present, we have a total of over 2,50,000 applications globally on BlackBerry World and one of the largest developer bases in India with over 43,000 developers as we continue to strengthen our application ecosystem. Some of the popular free apps are BBM, connect to Dropbox, Picmix for BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry news stand and popular paid apps are Angry Birds Star Wars, the Froggie games, faceflow video chat, star tracker, Beweather 10 pro, money plus, color ID.
Productivity and games are the most popular category of apps in India and it amply states the convergence of the work life and personal life on a BlackBerry.
How important are apps to capture the evolving consumer base defined by smartphone devices? What are the measures BlackBerry is undertaking to target these consumers?
In an ever-changing world of technology, smartphone manufacturers are constantly trying to get the edge over one another. The number of apps available on a mobile platform plays a huge factor when potential consumers are selecting their perfect device, but equally important is the ability to switch between work and fun in a seamless manner at the same time ensuring data security. Over the years, the demand and popularity of mobile apps have risen dramatically and on the basis of this rise in consumer preference, we introduced iOS and Android apps on BlackBerry in Jan 2014. This strategic move has helped us reach out to a large consumer base. BBM has been one of our strongest instant messaging applications which has been successful across platform. BBM has an audience of over 80 million monthly active users that continues to grow. BlackBerry Balance provides an enterprise with the ability to partition the device into work space and personal space thereby allowing seamless switch between work apps and fun apps.
As I mentioned, our focus this year will be on developing enterprise-based applications. Last year there were a lot of consumer apps coming out. You will see a huge focus on enterprise application and focus on different verticals such as health care, manufacturing, education, logistics & retails.
What are the app categories that are expected to rise to the forefront in 2014?
We are seeing a momentum in enterprise-based applications and are anticipating huge growth in that segment. Having said that, the consumer applications will continue to grow.