BlackBerry Shows Its Strength At WES2009—App Makers Take Note

We’ve just returned from WES2009 in sunny Orlando, Florida.  This is RIM’s annual event bringing together wireless operators, developers, customers, journalists, and RIM managers across the globe.  It is THE place to be for anything BlackBerry.

There were a lot of hardware and software vendors showing off their wares, but the most striking announcement came from the market research firm NPD.  It revealed that the BlackBerry Curve outsold the venerable iPhone from Jan-March this year.  In fact, NPD stated that BlackBerries comprised 3 of the top 5 bestselling smartphones:

1. RIM BlackBerry Curve 

2. Apple iPhone 

3. RIM BlackBerry Storm 

4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl 

5. T-Mobile G1

Who knew!?!

Now even though the BlackBerry App World application storefront hasn’t started shipping on any BlackBerry’s yet, the leading developers at WES2009 were unanimous in their praise for this new channel.  WorldMate Live is just one example.  Our application has been warmly received in App World—currently ranked as the #2 most downloaded app overall—and the channel is already generating many thousands of downloads a day.  The consensus is that once App World is pre-loaded on BlackBerries, the number of application downloads will skyrocket!

BlackBerryCool put together a Best of WES list highlighting some of the best new offerings at the show.  WorldMate didn’t launch anything new, but as you can see from the picture below and the #2 ranking, we’re generating a lot of buzz...  (That is yours truly in the black suit presenting to throngs of interested attendees.)

If you are part of the BlackBerry ecosystem, don’t miss out on WES2010.