BlackBerry has announced a licensing deal with Amazon that will see its next iteration of the BlackBerry 10 platform include the Amazon App Store, bringing along with it a 200,000-strong app ecosystem available for direct download on BlackBerry devices.
The BlackBerry 10 platform, while offering its own native apps, is compatible with Android apps. Currently, users will either have to make do with (usually outdated) Android apps ported to BB10 on its BlackBerry World app store, or learn how to download apk files and sideloading them onto their BlackBerry devices. With the new licensing agreement, BlackBerry users starved of app choices can now ease their suffering later this year when BlackBerry 10.3 is announced.
However, this licencing deal will also raise questions from the community of BB10 developers. With the inclusion of the Amazon App Store, BlackBerry has just exposed native app developers on BlackBerry World to a direct competitor that may seriously harm their revenue streams. At the time of writing, while the official BlackBerry blog noted that “this is an exciting time for BlackBerry 10 device owners”, not one word was written to reassure developers of their immediate future once BlackBerry 10.3 is announced later this year.
(Source: Inside BlackBerry)
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