No 99-cent apps for BlackBerry App World
Research In Motion has revealed the price tiering for applications on its soon-to-launch BlackBerry App World store, and the surprise is that $2.99 is the lowest price point.
Well, to be specific, free apps will also be allowed, but developers won't be able to sell their apps at the 99-cent price point that's proved so popular for iPhone.
Here's the published pricing tiers, with dollars, Canadian dollars, pounds and Euros:
| Tiers | USD | CDN | GBP | EUR |
| 1 | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| 2 | $2.99 | $3.69 | £2.59 | 2.75 |
| 3 | $3.99 | $4.89 | £3.45 | 3.65 |
| 4 | $4.99 | $6.15 | £4.29 | 4.55 |
| 5 | $5.99 | $7.35 | £5.15 | 5.49 |
| 6 | $6.99 | $8.59 | £5.99 | 6.39 |
| 7 | $7.99 | $9.79 | £6.85 | 7.29 |
| 8 | $8.99 | $11.05 | £7.69 | 8.19 |
| 9 | $9.99 | $12.25 | £8.55 | 9.09 |
And then after this, they increment by $1 tiers up to $19.99, then by $10 tiers from $19.99 to $99.99, then $50 tiers from $99.99 to $599.99, and by $100 tiers to the top price of $999.99.
But back to the no-99-cent-apps thing. RIM's tiers are being interpreted as an attempt to fend off the cheap fart apps and other novelties that have been so popular on iPhone.
Could it backfire though? Those apps are, after all, popular. What's more, while there are a lot of poor-quality 99-cent iPhone games, there are also a fair few gems too. Perhaps by setting a $2.99 lowest (paid) price point, RIM will help those developers to make more money.
Anyway, the debate could be academic, since RIM says the tiers are subject to change - it may well decide to introduce $0.99 and $1.99 categories at some point.