BlackBerry announced a licensing agreement with the Amazon Appstore today to bring the Amazon Appstore to BlackBerry 10 device users when the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system launches in October.
While this news will give the minority of consumers who wanted access to Android  applications, BlackBerry states that this will provide developers with new options for monetizing apps with BlackBerry.
With the Amazon Appstore, you will be able to sell to more users and you will have access to powerful promotional tools for increased discoverability and profitability including:
- Appstore Developer Select provides enhanced merchandising to improve discoverability. Qualifying apps receive 500,000 free mobile ad impressions across the Amazon Mobile Ad Network.
- Developer Promotions Console enables you to run pricing promotions, monitor results and adjust pricing options.
- Amazon Coins incentives reward customers to improve conversion.
- Free App of the Day is a curated promotional opportunity where Amazon offers one paid app to customers free each day.
Now forgive me if I’m confused here but this all relates to Android.  BlackBerry will help developers migrate their BlackBerry apps to the Amazon Appstore. That can be read several ways but I’m going out on a limb here and guess that BlackBerry mean moving existing Android apps that are currently in BlackBerry World to Amazon. That would actually make sense as long as once those apps are migrated, they are removed from BlackBerry World.
This scenario would give users two stores on BlackBerry 10 devices. One purely for BlackBerry apps (BlackBerry World) and one purely for Android apps (Amazon Appstore).
That would also be useful for the majority of BlackBerry users who paid a lot of money for a BlackBerry 10 smartphone and want, and expect BlackBerry apps. They can ignore the Android store.
Keeping Android apps in BlackBerry World will only lead to a convoluted mess with duplicates, different versions and general confusion for users.
The death of Native BlackBerry apps for consumers
In one fell swoop BlackBerry have killed native BlackBerry App development for consumers.
Developing for the Amazon Appstore will enable you to quickly and easily reach a larger user base.
With the above statement its clear that BlackBerry are actively promoting the development of Android apps for the Amazon Appstore.
Any BlackBerry Developer Group Manager will tell you that promoting Android development is nothing new. We’ve been doing it for months at Developer Group meetings and more. The only difference here is that it is a bit more public and the target store has changed to Amazon.
Android developers can now develop an Android app, publish it in the Google Play Store and the Amazon Appstore. This means that once they publish to the Amazon Store, it will be available on BlackBerry 10 devices.
There is absolutely no reason for an Android developer to develop a BlackBerry version of their app. Why would they? Its already available to BlackBerry 10 users with the developer gaining the monetisation and benefits outlined above.
The App Gap
BlackBerry, and some of its users, will try to state that this closes the app gap, which is a farcical argument. In reality, the only app gap now will be on BlackBerry 10 devices.
Come October, there will be more Android apps available than BlackBerry apps on BlackBerry 10 devices. As more apps appear in Amazon (and BlackBerry apps migrate across) that gap will widen rapidly.
Taking that into consideration, there is no reason for BlackBerry not to produce a pure Android device.
Enterprise Apps
BlackBerry will continue their focus on the Enterprise and this is where we will see native apps.
It’s important to know that the agreement with Amazon is essential in terms of aligning our developer strategy with our corporate strategy, which is focused on delivering the industry-best enterprise mobility solutions.
In the coming weeks, BlackBerry will unveil a new enterprise application partner program designed to deliver more enterprise apps with business-class functionality.
Quite clearly, there will be a continued push on native app development in the Enterprise. As a corporate developer, and selfishly, this is great news.
We will get a new program, newer tools and resources etc. This helps us to develop better enterprise apps, meaning our clients get better apps.
Winners and Losers
With any significant change, there are winners and losers.
For Amazon, this is is definitely a win-win situation.
For BlackBerry, it is a final admission that they failed in bringing developers to BlackBerry 10 in the required numbers. While they may gain some marketing positives using Android, the perception just may do them more harm than good.
For Enterprise developers and their clients, it’s definitely a huge win.
For consumer BlackBerry developers, they must be feeling like BlackBerry just kicked them in the guts. The only positive i can see is that their native apps may stand out more in a diminished store but whether that is a positive is down to how each individual developer feels about it.
For the minority of BlackBerry consumers who want it, they will be happy. The majority will either look at Android apps or continue to ignore them. I cant see Android users flocking to buy a BlackBerry device but it just may induce current BlackBerry users to move away. Time will tell!
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