One of the things that really irks me about RIM’s currently announced PlayBook strategy is that they have been coy about how to get apps on the PlayBook. According to RIM they are currently saying the PlayBook at launch will only support installing apps through App World. This is drastically different from the current BlackBerry OS which allows for sideloading apps to your BlackBerry through 4+ other methods like OTA downloads, desktop installs, SD card installs, and BES app policy pushes.
The reason I think that RIM cannot maintain this policy of only allowing app installs through App World is because of corporate customers. Corporate clients will not want to have to upload their apps to App World for their employees to install them. There is also no word on how RIM will be deploying and improving the BES server policies and rules to handle the PlayBook. I think we will be definitely hearing more before launch but I really hope RIM launches the PlayBook with a way to “sideload” apps. Otherwise we will be stuck in a situation similar to Apple users where only RIM approved apps will be able to be installed on the device. That is one reason I steer clear of any iOS devices. History tells us that RIM will not go down this path but I hope they add alternatives at launch for sideloading apps.
What do you think? Is the ability to sideload or OTA install apps on the PlayBook important to you?
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