Single Developer Responsible For Over 47k Apps In BlackBerry World

hypnosec writes "If you are a BlackBerry owner, navigate to BlackBerry World (or just visit the website) and you will find that developer S4BB has developed over 47k apps for the BB platform. Unsurprisingly, most of them are just spammy apps that don't add any value. Apps like 'Restart Me Free,' 'Daily Quote,' 'Lock for SMS,' 'Search for Amazon,' 'Silent Foto Free' are just a few among the thousands of apps on BlackBerry World that actually have no utility whatsoever. BlackBerry announced back in May that developers were increasingly interested in making apps for the platform, and that BlackBerry World had more than 120,000 apps. This raises questions about the authenticity of the claims, and about the approval process that's been accepting these apps. S4BB may have a few useful apps for the platform, but that doesn't mean all of their apps are of 'A' quality. A statement from BlackBerry said, 'Developers in all app stores employ a number of different monetization tactics. BlackBerry World is an open market for developers and we let market forces dictate the success or failure of these tactics.'"

Comments

heh

[i kan reed]

We let market forces dictate the success or failure of these tactics

The same market forces that cause no one I know to actually own a blackberry?

Re:heh

[Sponge Bath]

They blew it.

There's an app for that.

Re:heh

[Russ1642]

Companies seem to stick around quite a while after they're dead. Kodak is still around for crying out loud. Doesn't make them any less dead.

Re:heh

[cybermancer]

I actually have a Blackberry Playbook (I realize you don't know me, so it doesn't invalidate your claim). It is really nice hardware. The OS is a little weird in places, but it is very fast. The killer is there are so few apps that I want to download. Discovery of useful apps in their store is not very easy either.

It is sad. Mostly use it for email and web surfing.

Re:heh

[OakDragon]

They blew it.

There's an app for that.

If that were true, it might have saved them!

Re:heh

[ScottCooperDotNet]

You mean the Blackberry device that didn't come with an email app at launch? And doesn't have it's own cell connection, requiring a Blackberry to piggyback off of? The device reeks of 'design by committee'.

Re:heh

[mwvdlee]

Judging by their market standards, there's probably some 47,000 apps for that.

Re:heh

[Skater]

I have one, albeit not my own - it's my employer's. (It's a "Curve" - not the current BB 10 OS.)

I really don't like it. We're apparently getting iPhones soon to replace them, and I'm ready. I have an S3 now, my previous phone was an iPhone 3GS (which I still use for one app that doesn't have an Android version), so I've used all three OSes, and honestly, BB's is annoying to use. Other than checking my work email, I rarely use the phone. I thought the physical keyboard would be a plus, but it turns out I can type as well on my 3GS or my S3 as I can with the BB, and when I'm not typing on the iOS/Android, I get a bigger useful screen.

One other annoying quirk that ensures I'll never be tempted to buy a BB: It only charges off its own included charger, and my Samsung S3's charger. No other charger works. We probably have 25 or 30 USB chargers around the house, in the cars, etc., for a bunch of devices - we have several iPods around, an iPad, iPhones, my Samsung phone, my Asus tablet, plus a bunch more chargers of various brands. I tried every last charger; the phone simply refuses to charge from all but the BB and Samsung ones. So, when I need the BB most, when I'm traveling, I have to remember to grab one of those two chargers (one of which I keep at work). (Note, my Asus tablet is the same way - it only works with its own charger - but at least it doesn't have a standard USB port interface, either. And that USB charger WILL charge my Samsung phone, so except for the BB I would only need to carry that charger.) At least with the iPhone 5 I'd only need the Lightning cable, any USB charger will work with it.

Re:heh

[RedHackTea]

Besides the 47k apps, it looks like the guy wrote a script to up-star all of his apps -- which makes searching for useful apps a pain. The majority of them are 4stars+: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/vendor/102/?countrycode=US

Welll I am guessing that S4BB stands for

[totalnet]

spam for BlackBerry.

Re:47k apps from one person?

[kasperd]

The same app submitted under thousands of names - in the hope that some will "buy to try"...

Yeah, that can hardly be called development. How much effort does one have to put into developing an app in order to produce something new? I don't think you can do much in one day.

Putting this number in some perspective, the oldest person ever lived for 44724 days. So nobody would reach 47k applications at one per day.

FIRST POST!

[localman57]

FIRST POST! -This automated post is a service of S4BB Slashdot First Post Blackberry App

Re:FIRST POST!

[operagost]

Your automated post was BLOCKED FROM VIEWING by S4BB Slashdot First Post Blocker Blackberry App

Fake blackberry skin has some value.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

One of the old posts in slashdot suggested people with desirable phones like iPhones and Samsung androids to get fake blackberry like skin to make the phone less attractive to thieves and snatchers. So if Blackberry copyrights the skin design they can actually make some money off their own suckitude.

Re:47k apps from one person?

[jcr]

If you have any scripting skills at all, you could do a lot more than that.

-jcr

Re:better than the alternative

[osu-neko]

I'd rather have an app store full of spammy apps than one that rejects good apps for no reason (or because they compete with the manufacturer's own apps)

You may very well think that, but market forces dictate success, as noted, and the market seems to think it's better to have an app store where you can actually find useful applications because they're not buried under a mountain of crap.

No utility whatsoever?

[timmyf2371]

While I'm sure there are plenty of apps on all platforms that have no utility whatsoever, the submitter did a poor job in selecting some of the apps in the BB App World that would be worthy of this description.

Restart me free: Seems useful enough in that it allows a restart of the device without having pull the battery. Is it really any less useful than creating a shortcut which opens the All Apps menu on the Windows 8 start menu?
Daily Quote: I would have no use for this app, however this doesn't diminish the value it has to the people who use it.
Silent Foto Free: as the name suggests, this app lets you take photos without the shutter noise. Could be useful in some situations; taking photos at a chess tournament immediately comes to mind.
Lock for SMS: lets you PIN protect any app on the device. Surely ideal for parents wanting to stop their youngsters from accessing particular apps?
Search for Amazon: looks like it simply redisplays the Amazon mobile site in an app and adds a few features e.g. writing a review into the native interface. In the absence of an official Amazon app for the Blackberry, it may well be useful for the avid Amazon shopper.

Re:No utility whatsoever?

[6ULDV8]

Search for Amazon: looks like it simply redisplays the Amazon mobile site in an app and adds a few features e.g. writing a review into the native interface. In the absence of an official Amazon app for the Blackberry, it may well be useful for the avid Amazon shopper.

Especially while shopping for a new phone.

Spammy SSD drives

[gnasher719]

47,000 apps is nothing.

I was looking to buy an SSD drive, so I tried amazon.co.uk. Entered "SSD" into search, restricted departments to "Computers and accessories".

There are 96,000 different SSD drives for sale. 95,500 are sold by the same company. Their list of drives are: Assholecompany 64 GB SSD drive for Acer obscure model 1. Assholecompany 64 GB SSD drive for Acer obscure model 2. Assholecompany 64 GB SSD drive for Acer obscure model 3. .... Assholecompany 64 GB SSD drive for Zenith obscure model 497.

Sorry, the name isn't assholecompany, it is "Arch Memory". They are basically performing a DOS attack against anyone else trying to sell SSD drives on Amazon.co.uk.

Re:better than the alternative

[Tom]

Then you are an idiot.

Spam is the #1 problem of the information age, because information becomes meaningless when it is drowned in noise. The only reason that the Internet is still useable is because we are fighting a constant war on spam.

Imagine for a minute E-Mail without spam filters. I mean entirely without. No blacklisting, no taking spam ISPs offline, no IP filter, no greylisting, no spamassassin, no gmail you put in front of your real mail just for the filtering - absolutely nothing of that.

Now imagine search engines with no effort to filter out the spam. Imagine a Google that doesn't downrank spammy sites.

Imagine telemarketers being allowed to call you whenever they want, as often as they want.

If you have any imagination whatsoever, you'll agree that spam is a really huge issue. If you have really good imagination, you might want to apply for therapy after this traumatic minute.