BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) World is stuffed with 120,000 apps, as claimed by CEO Thorsten Heins during his BlackBerry Live conference keynote on May 14, however, the CEO failed to point out that 47,000 of the total apps are designed by one developer, S4BB, according to a report from AllThingsD.
Quality compromised
More than one third of total apps in BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) are developed by S4BB, a developer who compromised quality for quantity. According to BerryReview, apps of S4BB are poorly designed with software that does not meet the minimum standard set for an “app”. The apps from S4BB include innumerable lock apps, repurposed city guides, audio books, and an assortment of content apps that seem to be built around RSS feeds from the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Weather Service and the CDC. And then there’s Mega Shaver, Mega Machine Gun and Mega Fart.
BlackBerry turnaround plan did not get much help
The apps are heavily undernourished and lack quality, which hampered the company’s revival plan at a time when BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) was looking forward to build its B 10 ecosystem. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company initiated schemes for developers like its big $100 per approved app “Portathon” and guaranteed $10,000 to the developers if their early BB10 apps were in line with quality standards.
“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,” said BlackBerry spokesman Adam Emery. He said that it is difficult for developers to make a mark in overcrowded stores, which is the reason why BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has worked together with developers to build a Blackberry program to show apps and games that define the power of Blackberry 10.
A serious issue
These sorts of apps can be found on almost all the mobile app stores, so BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is not unique. However, the problem becomes grave when we compare BlackBerry’s total number of apps against rivals like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). Apple has more than 900,000 apps while Google Play apps cross the one million mark. So if we consider one-third of BlackBerry’s apps come from one source, with some being sub-par, that is a cause of worry.
This exposure is a taint on BlackBerry’s image, at a time when it is presently looking for a strategic alternative after a failed turnaround strategy.
