In 2003, Research In Motion (RIM) (now known as
BlackBerry Limited) launched the
Mobile Data Service to enable customers to access
Java-based third-party enterprise applications using the secure real-time
push-based BlackBerry infrastructure. Later on 21 October 2008, RIM announced at the BlackBerry Developer Conference that the company would open an application store for their devices. It was also announced that the store was scheduled to be open in March 2009, and would work in conjunction with
PayPal's services. On 19 January 2009, RIM began accepting submissions of applications from developers. On 4 March 2009, RIM officially named the store 'BlackBerry App World' (previously called the BlackBerry Application Storefront). It was also confirmed that the service would not initially be available for desktops, and only a web-based catalogue would be accessible from non-BlackBerry devices. On 1 April 2009, at the
Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) trade show, RIM announced that App World had gone live. At the BlackBerry-sponsored Wireless Symposium, it was announced that an average of one million apps were being downloaded each day. On 19 August 2010, BlackBerry App World 2.0 was released. This new version introduced BlackBerry ID; an account system that can be used on both the BlackBerry client, and the BlackBerry App World desktop storefront. In addition to BlackBerry ID, BlackBerry App World 2.0 also introduced direct credit card billing and carrier billing for
AT&T Wireless subscribers. On 3 December 2010, Research in Motion announced that daily downloads were two million apps per day. On 2 February 2011, BlackBerry App World 2.1 was released. This version introduced in-app purchases of digital goods, allowing for add-ons to be purchased within applications. On 21 January 2013, BlackBerry announced that it rebranded the
BlackBerry App World to simpler
BlackBerry World, as part of the release of the
BlackBerry 10 operating system. On 18 June 2014, BlackBerry announced an official relationship with
Amazon, which includes access to
Amazon Appstore in BlackBerry 10.3. On 14 December 2017, BlackBerry announced that BlackBerry World would close at the end of 2019, however the store was not closed, and continued to function as of August 2020. On 1 April 2018, BlackBerry removed payment features from BlackBerry World. The store eventually closed in January 2022 with other BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS services. ==Pricing and availability==