BlackBerry App Store Coming? Carrier Controlled…

I know many people have asked for it after the success of the Apple app store. Kevin scored some great shots of a concept app store on the Vodaphone BlackBerry Storm. This app store will let you find and browse 3rd party BlackBerry apps hosted by carriers. I am not that big on carriers being involved but I guess you cannot have everything. This app store only shows downloadable applications published by the carrier. Here is to hoping that RIM cuts carriers out of the mix since they have fumbled every app store ever released. I can just see AT&T crippling this already. I just hope it does not end up being yet another homescreen shortcut I have to hide on my device.

Features from CrackBerry:

• The Application Center will be available on 4.7 Storm devices and will be designed for the Storm touch screen UI.
• Carriers will be responsible for hosting the application data and sending updates to the directory to RIM.
• The main application screen will provide the user with a list of all applications that are available for install from the particular carrier for the specific device model and OS version. Incompatible applications will not be displayed.
• The main screen will provide the user the ability to quickly browse the application list, then view the available information about each application in a detailed description screen which shows the logo and full description. Installation will occur with one click (launches the web browser).
• The user will be able to access the Options > Applications screen from within the App Center (allowing the user to delete applications directly from within the App Center).
• The user will be provided with various status info: date the app list was most recently updated; notification that updates are available; option to reapplication list was completed, etc.
• Since the download and installation will be handled by the browser in this first release, the Application Center will not be capable of restarting the application / download intelligently.
• The Application Center will automatically check for updates daily.

As Kevin speculates all the information is making it sound like this will be announced at the first developer conference this month! Here is to hoping RIM does not let carriers cripple this to make it useless.

Nice work Kevin!