The currently Blackberry 10 ecosystem is fairly woeful, with only a handful of apps that were built with the native framework. The lack of a solid user base and complex SDK turned off many companies such as Netflix, Snapchat, Instagram and many others. This situation is now rectified as Blackberry just signed a licensing agreement to have the Amazon App Store bundled on all phones starting with the 10.3 firmware update.
Good e-Reader exclusively reported back in January at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas that the 10.3 update will have a new Android driven app store for customers to have access. It looks like we were right because in the next few months the Amazon App Store, with over 200,000 will be preloaded on any new phones being sold and a firmware update available for existing users.
You will be able to access popular apps such as Groupon, Netflix, Pinterest, Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft – all available for direct download!
This is landmark agreement that Blackberry signed with Amazon, but there is a downside. Starting July 21st the company is closing its video and music business on Blackberry World. Previously downloaded content will be available after that date through MyWorld. Part of the agreement with Amazon necessitated the Seattle based company to get all multimedia sales through their own ecosystem.
Blackberry is putting a priority on Android apps being the future of their ecosystem. Recently, the company let go their entire developers relations team and a number of engineers responsible for native apps in Blackberry World. It looks like developing your own ecosystem from scratch and offering a paltry selection of content was not the best gambit and now Blackberry is getting in bed with Amazon.
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and Verge.