There’s a new and improved app store in town, and it goes by the name of BlackBerry World.  It’s not new per se, as it had been around for years, but it’s been revamped.  Formerly, it was called BlackBerry App World, obviously they dropped “App” from the title, then added a few consumer services that make it comparable to Apple’s App Store, Google Play and Amazon’s App Store.

And because it is comparable to the other app stores, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.  We’ll be comparing it to the app store to get a sense of what people are actually getting from these app stores.

Availability

BlackBerry World: Over 170 countries

Apple App Store: 119 countries, App Store in 155 countries

Google Play: Paid apps available in over 130 countries, movies in  US, UK, Canada, France, Australia, Spain, Germany and Japan, books in S, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Australia, and music in the US only

Amazon Appstore: US, UK, Japan, Spain, France, Germany, Italy,

Offers

BlackBerry World: Apps, games, themes, and soon music and videos

Apple App Store: Music, movies, TV shows, apps, books, comics, magazines, news source

Google Play: Music, magazines, apps, books, TV shows, movies

Amazon Appstore: Apps, books

Compatibility

BlackBerry World: BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry Device Software v4.5 or higher, with a trackball, trackpad or touch screen and for BlackBerry PlayBook, Mac, PC

Apple App Store: Macs with OS X 10.6.8 or later, PCs with Windows XP or higher, for iOS device use App Store

Google Play: Android devices

Amazon Appstore: Android devices

Content management

BlackBerry World: BlackBerry Media Sync

Apple App Store: Everything downloaded are stored in iTunes on your computer, and because of iCloud, everything can be accessed in other iDevices

Google Play: Content stored in Google Play library, music downloaded managed with Music Manager, watch movies or TV shows now or later with Google Play Movies & TV app for Android and are added to My Movies & TV library for offline watching, Google Play Magazines app

Amazon Appstore: Content stored in the cloud

Features

BlackBerry World: BlackBerry Theme Studio, Print to Go

Apple App Store: iCloud, Genius

Google Play: Cloud integration makes everything available anytime, anywhere

Amazon Appstore:  Cloud makes apps available anytime, anywhere

Which is the best app store?

Apple’s App Store is available in more countries compared to the other app stores, and because of this fact, their App Store wins in that category.  All the app stores cater to certain devices, and while they all have desktop or Mac versions, the apps and other content have restricted availability.  For many users, it really boils down to which device you’re using, and on which platform you’re most active.

Apple also has the most apps, and the best quality apps, thanks to a closed ecosystem and relatively narrow parameters for iOS users’ experiences.  Apps tend to look and function better on iOS devices, and developers tend to launch for iOS before Android and other platforms.