RIM has introduced a new encryption system recently for its App World for the Playbook. With the advent of the recent PlayBook OS 2.0.1 update, the apps and games downloaded via App World are encrypted. These apps will only function if they are run on a single Playbook with the BlackBerry ID you used when you made a purchase. For example, if I purchase an app and gave one of my readers the BAR file, it would not work. This is an important step for the beleaguered company to secure its ecosystem and attract new developers to its existing store and BB10.
Since all purchases you make on the Blackberry Playbook are now encrypted to work with the original purchaser, this should curb some of the rampant piracy going on. For the last seven months, people have been pirating apps at an accelerating rate. A few websites that purveyed in these endeavors have been summarily shut down by RIM. The big reason the company secured its ecosystem is because of the lack of developer support for App World. Alec Saunders and other evangelists from the company are seeing a very non-committal attitude from Netflix, Skype, and other big name companies. Many of these top apps are not available on App World and likely won’t until BB10 comes out next year.
Although purchases you make from App World are encrypted this does not prevent people from side-loading in their own applications and games. The Android emulator runs on a different system and allows anyone to install a working BAR file.
If you are looking for the latest Android Apps and Games converted to BAR format, make sure you checkout our own Good e-Reader App Store! We have over 800 Playbook apps on our system!
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
