Game developers and publishers are enthusiastic about this week’s launch of BlackBerry App World, Research In Motion’s mobile applications store for BlackBerry handsets.

It’s not been met by quite the same level of universal praise as the iPhone 3.0 software was last month – possibly because people are less scared of offending RIM than Apple – but nevertheless, it’s seen as a big step forward.

“It’s a great development for the business, and a further sign of the increasing importance of the global Application Store model for our industry,” says Barry O’Neill of Namco Bandai Networks.

“Blackberry users tend to have a much higher ARPU than general Java consumers, so I expect we’ll see a high take up of games and applications on the platform.”

Launchpad for sales

Jill Braff of Glu Mobile agrees, saying that RIM’s app store should be a launchpad for much higher sales of BlackBerry games.

“Until now, many consumers have been ‘dislocated’ from mobile gaming on their smartphones, because many operators have yet to create integrated content delivery for these devices,” she says.

“As a result, it has been hard for most consumers to purchase mobile games. However, wherever the provisioning has been seamless from a merchandising and delivery – on AT&T for example in the US – we’ve seen strong adoption of mobile games. We’re eager to see how people adopt now that RIM has enabled an improved solution.”

This is pretty much the view across the board: many publishers have been making BlackBerry games for a while now, but they see the BlackBerry App World as the chance to do decent numbers with those titles.

“We are hopeful and cautiously optimistic about it,” says Don Ryan of I-play’s parent company Oberon Media. “BlackBerry’s new app store should boost our sales of BlackBerry games, as its goal is to make it much easier to locate, access and purchase games on the store.”

Meanwhile, Distinctive Developments’ Nigel Little says he expects that the store’s launch will drive an increase in the quality of BlackBerry games too, not to mention improving discovery.

Minimum bonus

The fact that RIM has set a minimum price (apart from free) of $2.99 is something that games firms are very interested in, too, as Little explains. “It’ll be interesting to see how that will affect sales and revenue,” he says.

“There will certainly be a lot fewer apps and games on BlackBerry due to the barriers of entry – that plus device fragmentation – but that should allow professional quality to make its mark and drive strong sales.”

Namco’s O’Neill makes exactly the same point about the $2.99 minimum price. “This is a major departure from other models, and should help ensure a high margin for developers, and avoid the severe pricing pressure we’ve seen on some other stores,” he says.

“It should also help to keep the portfolio of applications to a manageable size by eliminating the incentive to developers to create very low cost/value applications.”

Fragmentation is an issue to be borne in mind by games developers, though. Little points out that the platform is more demanding than iPhone because of the need to think about different screen sizes and performance levels, while Ryan says the need for multiple ports means many games won’t be supported on all devices.

On the one hand, experienced mobile developers and publishers know all about porting, and BlackBerry is a cinch compared to the cost and complexity of producing thousands of builds for Java handsets.

On the other, it may put off developers who are new to mobile, and see iPhone/iPod touch as a much simpler platform to hit.

Better than Java?

One thing that hasn’t much been talked about is what kind of games BlackBerry handsets are capable of, and how they compare to other platforms like iPhone and Android.

“BlackBerry uses the Java language and their devices are optimised for 2D performance so you won’t be seeing many 3D games on BlackBerry on the current generation of devices,” says Little.

“However, since BlackBerries are business devices, then 3D games might not be the type of game people are looking for on these devices. As with any mobile platform it’s about building games that fit the platform rather than trying to squeeze console games onto it.”

Ryan agrees. “Technically, BlackBerries perform about the same as mid to high-end J2ME devices. However, there is a big delta between the current crop of BlackBerries and Android devices or iPhones, in terms of performances.”

Ryan also warns of one downside to the way RIM is running its app store. “The main hurdle to its adoption that we see is the PayPal payment method,” he says. “We are unsure of how high the hurdle is for a customer to get a new PayPal account set up on a mobile device.”

Meanwhile, Little would like to see an Amazon-style recommendation engine incorporated into the App World – and indeed every app store – in the future, to aid discovery.

That said, O’Neill praises RIM’s commitment to DRM on its native applications. “It’s very encouraging, and will provide a high level of security against piracy,” he says.

Price points

One aspect we picked up on when covering the App World launch were the price points. Given that these are essentially Java games, is charging £7.85 for them a strange move, given the £5 price points for J2ME titles on operator decks, and even lower prices on the iPhone?

Glu has gone with a £7.85 price point across the board in the UK App World, which translates to $9.99 in the US. Braff says the company is confident it hasn’t misjudged the market. “The pricing for smartphone games in the US is commonly at $9.99 today,” she says.

“ The market pricing is consistent across many games (including different genres as well as branded and original IP) on Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices, and consumers appear to be content with the value-price ratio. We’ll continue to watch the market changes, listen to consumers and see how this segment evolves.”

Kyu Lee of Gamevil, which has gone for the same price point, makes the same argument – that $9.99 is used for BlackBerry games in other channels. “We’ll have to see how it goes, and depending on the results, prices may change,” he says.

“I agree that $9.99 is expensive if you compare what you can get on the iPhone, but at the same time there are so many people who have already downloaded the game at that price off the carrier’s deck.”

Ryan put it well when he talked about a “hopeful and cautiously optimistic” view of the App World launch. Having a RIM-backed app store is clearly better than not having one, and people are keen to see how it drives sales.

RIM’s reputation as a good partner for content firms is another reason for smiles in the industry. As Digital Chocolate’s Trip Hawkins puts it: “RIM is an innovative and strong company and I expect them to have a meaningful impact over time.”