In an interview with LaptopMag, RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis defends the company’s recent hardware flunk, the Storm, and explains the decisions behind the significantly higher App World price points.

Asked about the negative reviews piled against RIM's first touchscreen handset, Lazaridis mostly attempts to bolster the handset’s reputation by working the iPhone’s ribs, and provides few answers as to the manufacturer’s internal response to the problems.

“If you just put everything in one device it becomes big or expensive or complicated,” says Lazaridis, in a transparent jibe at Apple. “[The Storm is] our first touch product, and you know nobody gets it perfect out the door. You know other companies were having problems with their first releases.”

The media hasn’t been too kind regarding the high price points of the Blackberry App World in comparison to the iPhone’s App Store, though Lazaridis insists the pricing structure has been designed with the developer’s benefit in mind.

“We came to the conclusion that we really needed to give more power to [our developers],” he says. “We needed to give them much more flexibility and freedom as to how they price their applications, and they just didn’t feel they were making money at anything less than that.”

It’s not easy to see how RIM has done the maths on this one, however. Setting the minimum app price at $2.99 seems to be contrary to offering developers choice, since they must now attempt to compete against App Store sellers who have the option of selling at either $2.99, or as low as $0.99.

Flexibility points, in this case, have to go to the App Store.

He goes on to say that the App World has been performing well, however, and has the evidence to prove it.

“It’s been wildly positive. Yesterday I was having dinner with my parents and my dad downloaded a golf game right there at the dinner table! When it has that kind of an impact to that generation, you know that it’s a success in anyone’s book.”

Perhaps the title of this news item should read “RIM’s dad says BlackBerry is best”?