BlackBerry signed a licensing deal with Amazon that will allow it to pre-install the Amazon app store on the BB10 operating system. The move will give BlackBerry users access to a wide variety of Android apps which, while compatible with BB10, are not available in BlackBerry's own app store.
BlackBerry has been struggling in the smartphone market due to the dominance of Android and iOS devices. Currently less than 1 percent of smartphones in the U.S. are made by BlackBerry. With such a small reach compared to the big-name operating systems, app developers had little incentive to make their programs available on BlackBerry World, the company's default app store. BB10 is built to be compatible with Android apps, but users simply don't have access to most of them. Although the Amazon app store can be downloaded from its website, most users are unaware of this option.
When the BlackBerry 10.3 update is released this fall, the Amazon app store will come with it, making a huge variety of new apps available to BlackBerry users. The Amazon store currently contains over 240,000 apps, including popular offerings such as Pinterest and Netflix. The apps on BlackBerry World will still be available as the company works on transferring them to the Amazon app store.
"Making the Amazon Appstore available on BlackBerry 10 devices will help BlackBerry continue to meet two essential needs: greater app availability for our smartphone users and enhanced productivity solutions for enterprises," CEO John Chen says in a statement. "We've listened to our customers and have taken this important step to deliver on their needs, while executing on our strategy."
Allowing Amazon to take care of the app store will allow BlackBerry focus more on its corporate apps and services. The company still carries some weight in the corporate world, and offers a number of business-focused solutions that don't have parallels in other companies. For example, BlackBerry lately launched BBM Protected, an encrypted messaging system aimed at high-security organizations.
The news of BlackBerry's partnership with Amazon comes hot on the heels of Amazon's announcement of its own smartphone, the Amazon Fire phone. Between the two, Amazon looks to be expanding its reach in the mobile world. The updated BlackBerry operating system featuring the Amazon app store will launch sometime this fall, although no release date has been set.
