RIM Doesn't Want 200 Fart Apps

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RIM Doesn't Want 200 Fart Apps

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 29, 2010 @08:10AM from the do-not-want dept.

andylim writes "Just when you thought it was safe to dev a fart app for a BlackBerry, RIM's VP of platform product management, Alan Panezic, is making it clear that that's not want RIM is looking for. 'We don't need 200 fart apps in App World. Those are apps you'll use three or four times then never open again. You're not looking at ads, clicking on ads or buying premium upgrades, and the app isn't adding any value to your device.' Turns out RIM wants 'SuperApps', ones that keep you coming back for more because they add something to your life — be it ongoing entertainment value or doing something for you. Most importantly for developers, these are the apps that will garner the most revenue; whether it comes from premium upgrades, in-app advertising, or additional-cost content."

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I've got 99 fart apps... by MoldySpore · 2010-09-29 08:14 · Score: 3, Funny

...but a RIM ain't one.

--
"I hope you know how very lucky you are to know me, because I am so incredibly incredible."
1. Re:I've got 99 fart apps... by severoon · 2010-09-29 09:52 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  So it's not that he doesn't want any fart apps...it's just that the only fart apps they'll flag in have to be compelling (as opposed to propelling) fart apps.
  I also have to say, I really appreciate the brazen honesty: "These are apps you'll open 3 or 4 times and never look at again. You're not looking at ads..." He could have at least listed that one second...
  
  --
  but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
Unfortunately for RIM... by Anonymusing · 2010-09-29 08:14 · Score: 3, Insightful

...many of its customers actually want fart apps, because some people think they're entertaining.

--
Liberal? Conservative? Compare perspectives at Left-Right
1. Re:Unfortunately for RIM... by gad_zuki! · 2010-09-29 08:21 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  RIMs real customers are BES using corporate customers. They want quality apps that can be sold with volume licensing. I suspect the people using BIS really aren't their real customers and RIM goes out of their way to discourage the whole "ZOMG MY PHONE IS FUN!!" vibe that defines the non-enterprise market, which is probably a good thing. They're not going to beat Apple and Google at their own game, but certainly they can keep enterprise going and continue to be the "serious" phone for business. If anything, they're more worried about Microsoft than Apple or Google.
2. Re:Unfortunately for RIM... by CastrTroy · 2010-09-29 08:31 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I really have to agree with this. My Dad got switched to an iPhone as a cost saving measure for this business use. Bottom line, He hates it. It's much easier to type out an email on the Blackberry, as well as do a lot of other work related functions. The battery on the iPhone doesn't even last a whole day. The Blackberry can last quite a bit longer. The iPhone is good for teenagers who want to have fun. The Blackberry is meant for people who have work to do, and want it done quickly, and well.
  
  --
  
  Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
3. Re:Unfortunately for RIM... by Anonymusing · 2010-09-29 08:38 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  For what it's worth... I use the iPhone for business. Battery lasts two days, easily. I also have some personal apps on it, but mainly I use it for work-related e-mail.
  I had a BBerry before that and hated it.
  But that's me. I'm glad there are choices.
  
  --
  Liberal? Conservative? Compare perspectives at Left-Right
4. Re:Unfortunately for RIM... by Wyatt+Earp · 2010-09-29 08:39 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I use an iPhone 4 at work. Today I don't have a recharging cable, have sent about 50 emails and played alot of Angry Birds (at a conference so not *really* working). Battery is at 68% after 5 hours and 20 minutes of use.
5. Re:Unfortunately for RIM... by lowrydr310 · 2010-09-29 08:53 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I've had an EVO for about three months. I'm ready to throw in the towel and go back to my blackberry, but I'm stuck in a contract for two years so I'll ride it out. Email, instant messaging (Yahoo/Google/AIM), and light duty web browsing are all I do, and the blackberry was perfect for that, not to mention 3x the battery life of the EVO and a much more usable keyboard, all in a smaller package that's sure to take more abuse.
  
  Don't get me wrong, I like the EVO and I sort of knew what I was getting myself into, but I agree with you about the redundant apps and overall lack of quality with most of the offerings in the marketplace.
6. Re:Unfortunately for RIM... by HateBreeder · 2010-09-29 09:10 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Your battery lasts for 2 days? Do you mean the car battery with the in-vehicle charger?
  Under normal use I have to recharge my phone every night.
  
  --
  Sigs are for the weak.
7. Re:Unfortunately for RIM... by Kenshin · 2010-09-29 10:06 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Second billng: 5 megapixel camera
  for the enterprise user who needs to capture those precious spontaneous moments?
  Have you ever needed to take a photo of something on-site and send it to a client or someone back at the office? I have. It's a useful feature.
  
  --
  Does it make you happy you're so strange?
Re:All we need is Netcraft confirmation by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-29 08:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

Wait... you actually LIKE Xcode?
So far I've never met anyone who didn't have the urge to jump off a building after being forced to use it.
I actually happen to also like XCode. You don't happen to work at a psychiatric hospital with a large number of patients on suicide watch, would you? If so then I think there could be other explanations for your observation than XCode.
Free for all, or app market? by Dutchmaan · 2010-09-29 08:17 · Score: 4, Interesting

I agree that tons of cheaply made useless apps only lessen the value of a platforms app market, but really what you end up with is Apple's subjective selection process. I guess ideally one could have a selective app section walled off for those who want a more professional user experience, outside of which would be your 'unapproved' fart apps etc. Of course they would have to add some value to the creators for placing them inside the wall, but thats up to RIM to decide what it would like to offer I guess.
1. Re:Free for all, or app market? by jedidiah · 2010-09-29 08:59 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  > One reason why Microsoft and Apple take the walled garden approach is because of Joe and the dancing bunny security problem.
  This is utter nonsense as demonstrated by the Mac.
  Microsoft and Apple take the walled garden approach because they like monopolies and control.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Priorities? by DriedClexler · 2010-09-29 08:23 · Score: 3, Funny

You're not looking at ads, clicking on ads or buying premium upgrades, and the app isn't adding any value to your device.'
I hope he didn't list those problems in *decending* order of importance...

--
Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
Given iPhone Apps usually get used once... by humphrm · 2010-09-29 08:23 · Score: 4, Interesting

'We don't need 200 fart apps in App World. Those are apps you'll use three or four times then never open again.
Considering that only 20% of iPhone App installs get used more than once, I'd say that the BlackBerry fart apps are doing pretty well, in comparison.

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-- "In order to have power, I must be taken seriously." -Mojo Jojo
1. Re:Given iPhone Apps usually get used once... by aztracker1 · 2010-09-29 12:18 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Well, when working on a RIM, the last thing I'd want is a fart happening.
  
  --
  Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
Re:No Worries! by nine-times · 2010-09-29 08:24 · Score: 4, Funny

So he's busy doing the Apple thing and won't have time to make fart and piss apps for RIM.
Too bad. If he'd been hired by RIM instead, we'd have lots of jokes about how the fart-app guy got a RIM job.
What a Jackass by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-29 08:24 · Score: 3, Insightful

Alan Panezic sez: "We don't need 200 fart apps in App World. Those are apps you'll use three or four times then never open again."
The very fact that your developers want to write them and your customers want to download them means nothing to you?
Everyone knows that if a PDA can't fart, it can't do shit.
So what their saying is... by Dancindan84 · 2010-09-29 08:25 · Score: 4, Funny

Farting isn't a good way to get a RIM job?

--
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
Why as a business user I switched away from RIM by Yo+Grark · 2010-09-29 08:40 · Score: 4, Interesting

I was recently on a business trip and had my blackberry at my hip.
On a trip, I needed translator software, so went to RIM app world and found my options limited, i "trialed" their $30.00 french translator. (Let me say first I tried to use the web interface for google, but it took so long and so many clicks on the BB it was unusable consistently).
Well it was useless. Didn't do phrases, no real options, only did 1 word at a time. WTF? $30.00?!?
Luckily I had my ipad handy and saw what was available on the app store there. For 1.99 I got an offline app that KILLED the blackberry app in terms of features and usability.
So, in real work business usage, I have to say, RIM, you've lost me personally, but do continue to make back bench, locked in deals with CEO's to get your phones locked into corporations while you can.
Smart people use smartphones and want usability and fart apps for novelties to take their brains away from work once in awhile. .I will never go back to blackberry.
Yo Grark

--
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
Re:All we need is Netcraft confirmation by chargersfan420 · 2010-09-29 08:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

Notice how the only people advocating Xcode are anonymous cowards?
Re:All we need is Netcraft confirmation by larry+bagina · 2010-09-29 09:14 · Score: 3, Informative

the linker works fine from the command line.

--
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
solution by Joe+U · 2010-09-29 09:17 · Score: 3, Interesting

Design your store like Slashdot, let the users moderate things down and then browse at -1 for fart apps.
Why is this such an issue? Because Steve Jobs said it first?