BlackBerry App World applications more profitable than Android apps

Here’s another shocker from BlackBerry’s DevCon event in Amsterdam - RIM execs brought clarity about the BlackBerry App world saying apps on it are actually more profitable than their counterparts in the Android Market.

Newly appointed man-in-charge Thorsten Heins said that the App World is now home to over 60,000 applications. While that’s a mere fraction of the hundreds of thousands on the App Store or the Android Market, Heins said that BlackBerry developers could profit more from their apps than Android programmers. Apps on the App World allegedly bring 40% more profits than Android apps, and an impressive 13% of developers for the platform have cashed in over $100,000 from apps. There are 174 million app downloads each month, equalling 6 million downloaded apps a day, according to The Verge. This brings the total to 30 applications downloaded by each user, which is quite impressive actually.

Finally, Heins added that the BlackBerry PlayBook OS now supports Qt, which is an interesting move that can attract disillusioned Symbian developers.

Blackberry App World Applications Store:

Motorola Xoom vs BlackBerry PlayBook

The battle for tablet superiority is going to be hard-fought in 2011, with flagship releases expected from every leading manufacturer. But there are those that have already been singled out from the impressive pack of contenders and ear-marked for great things. Two of these prodigious devices are currently slugging it out for the leader of the pack badge – RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook and Motorola's XOOM .

Display
The Motorola XOOM weighs in with an amazing 10.1-inch 1080p ready display, which makes web browsing and viewing media a pleasure. RIM's offering may be smaller but it certainly isn't inferior and the PlayBook's 7.1-inch 1080P display performs admirably. It's tough to separate them but we feel the Motorola just takes the tape ahead of the PlayBook.


Drivetrain
RIM's PlayBook boasts a hugely impressive spec sheet, including a 1GHz Ti-OMAP dual-core processor and 1GB RAM, which is more than enough to keep the device flying along, under even the most heavy of burdens. Motorola's little box of tricks, the XOOM, is equally powerful though, with a dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip and 1GB RAM. Both devices offer dedicated GPU support, enabling them to keep up with the latest games and visual requirements.

Operating System
The XOOM is the first device to be empowered by Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb), which is a version of the hugely popular mobile OS that has been specially tailored to operate tablet PC's. Honeycomb offers redesigned apps for e-mail, web browsing and offline support for the new 3D version of the company's market leading Google Maps.

RIM's PlayBook brings something new to market though, in the form of the company's new QNX Neutrino based operating system, which looks on track to set the world alight. Both devices are cutting-edge in terms of operating software .

Cameras
Both tablets boast front and rear-facing cameras, ideal for snapping photos and video-conferencing. The XOOM offers a 5 mega-pixel rear with dual-LED flash and 2 mega-pixel front-facing effort.
The PlayBook ups the ante though, with a 5 mega-pixel rear-facing snapper and 3 mega-pixel front-facing, making it the tablet of choice for enterprise standard video-calling.

Connectivity
Motorola's XOOM comes with every conceivable connectivity option. It offers Wi-Fi (b,g,n), Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and 3G, as well as being future-proofed with support for 4G LTE.
The PlayBook, on the other hand, currently only offers support for Wi-Fi (a,b,g,n) though 3 and 4G versions are said to be in the pipeline. This needn't be a terrible encumbrance though. Even with its good points it can't take this bout from the XOOM.

So it's a pretty comprehensive victory for the Motorola XOOM, which offers everything a user could possibly want from a tablet PC, and a little bit more to boot. RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing contender though, and it would be remiss of us to write it off when we know how solid and dependable RIM's other devices are.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 stops by, we take it for a spin

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 has just arrived in our office. It’s the second BlackBerry OS 7 running Bold we get our hands on and just as the Bold 9900, the 9790 also comes with a touchscreen.

The Bold 9790 is has less-capable raw power and specs than the Bold 9900 – it comes with a smaller 2.45″ HVGA touchscreen, a 1GHz processor and a 5 megapixel snapper capable of capturing VGA videos.

Thanks to the smaller display, the Bold 9790 is more compact than its sibling, but so is the QWERTY keyboard.

Unlike the Bold 9900 though, the Bold 9790 comes with a battery cover made entirely of matte plastic and is fingerprint-proof.