New BlackBerry App World rolls out to UK users

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Research in Motion (RIM) is pushing for its place in the hard fought arena of mobile applications by releasing an updated version of its own store.

Version 2.0 of BlackBerry App World is now available to download in the UK, along with 64 other countries, and has a list of new features for both customers and developers.

The main introduction is the ability to charge $0.99 for an app, opening up cheaper options for developers and encouraging the customers to buy. This will also include the option to pay the low price for a level of a game, giving more of a try before you buy policy for applications that can be very expensive.

The other major change is users will now be able to pay by credit card, along with the traditional BlackBerry payment model of PayPal.

Unfortunately the UK is still lagging behind the US when it comes to downloading apps and paying for them with a monthly bill, but on the official Inside BlackBerry blog, the company wrote: "We have really great carrier partners all across the globe and we're working with them to offer expanded carrier billing options as soon as possible. Keep checking back to Inside BlackBerry for updates."

BlackBerry still lags behind its major rival Apple with the number of apps on offer 2,500 in the UK but the new features seem to be aimed at encouraging developers to come on board.

This latest version is still in the beta stage and customers have to register on the site to download it.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.