Would Blackberry's price minimum ensure a quality App Store?

I think that the problem is not in the app stores, but in the platform itself. Blackberry users know how better is the experience with the new blackberries (like the Bold) when it comes to use multiple apps together, getting realtime notifications and fully leveraging the multi-tasking of the BB. Something not available on the iPhone.

http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2008/12/why-the-blackberry-bold-is-way-better-than-the-iphone-3g-for-business.html

Apps for the blackberry are definitely worth more than the equivalent for the iphone and, as Christina says, it's already working this way.

idiotic thread. 90% of everything is going to be crap.

90% of movies, 90% of Xbox 360 games, 90% of TV Shows.

A bell curve is a bell curve, the premiere stuff is hard to find, more so if you DEFINE it as the 'top 10%' or the top '5%'

By the way, after all your bitching and moaning, is this an admission that you wish the App Review/Vetting process at Apple HQ to be MORE stringent?

Morons.

Whatever happened to the consumer being the judge of the worth of a product?

It's pretty easy to just delete a worthless app.

I am having a hard time figuring out why you or anyone could possibly think that by paying more for something you are automatically supposed to expect that it is of higher quality. Your logic makes no sense to me at all.

Thanks BJ Nemeth, you already wrote everything I wanted to.

By the way, I still don't get it why Apple removed "I Am Rich", that 999.99$ app, from the store.

But much more important is this: Apple should update the AppStore, very soon. Its usability level is non-existent at the moment. In fact, I don't go there anymore, because it simply sucks. 25000 apps ordered by only 10 categories. Or is 12? Whatever.

If I was a developer and made a fart app and the choice was free or $2.99, I would GLADLY take the $2.99 but that wouldn't make me a better developer, nor would it make the app better!! The $2.99 wouldn't make me develop better apps. It would make me develop more apps that do little faster. Like a fart app for every day of the week. Just think 365 X $2.99 = $1091.35 So, watch out more fart apps are coming your way!!! :-)

Look at Cadillac, they are pontiac parts with higher prices but doesn't make the part inherently better. It doesn't make GM build better cars or make GM a better car company. (I used to work in a cadillac/pontiac parts department, I confirmed this myself.)

We must get rid of all those evil, useless $1 fart apps, and everything like them! It's so horrible how they automatically download themselves on our iPhones and charge us $0.99 in the process ... oh, wait ...

If you hate "American Idol," and think it signals the downfall of society, that doesn't change the fact that there are a heck of a lot of people out there who really like it. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

The same goes for fart apps, and similar so-called "junk." You don't have to buy it.

If hundreds of thousands of people are willingly paying for these programs, what's the problem? How does my purchase of iFart negatively affect any of you or the App Store?

I think Blackberry is making a mistake, one motivated solely by greed on their part. (Blackberry likely doesn't want to deal with credit card fees on small purchases of $1-2, whereas Apple bites the bullet to serve its customers, and ultimately, itself.)

If you can't tell what's crap on the Apple store, then there are two answers. 1) Better social ranking of apps. 2) Better user interface in the App store to allow filtering by social results. For example: Show me all the apps that my facebook friends have downloaded. Don't bother explaining that Apple Corp is a walled garden and wouldn't share APIs with facebook. I already know that.

Well, the existing BlackBerry app market for paid apps already has a pricing structure that is significantly more expensive than the average iPhone app. I mean, a BlackBerry "theme" is $5 - $7 (if not more), IM apps are $15 - $20, alarm apps are in the $20 - $30 range, etc., etc. I think that setting a minimum price is a mistake and it won't end up keeping crap out anyway -- but it also goes inline with what their existing app markets pricing ceilings already are. There are plenty of free apps, sure -- but the paid apps are all overpriced, comparatively, when you put them up against what sorts of apps are available for other mobile platforms. I mean, $15 for a screenshot app (the free alternatives are either kludgy, require Windows or both), WTF-ever.

Clearly I'm a jaded BlackBerry user. Love the e-mail. Love the keyboard. I'm totally over the OS and the vast majority of the software.

I totally agree that the logic is flawed. you will just end up with overpriced garbage.

Just like virtually all commercial software that exists at the moment.

Oh. Did I mention that iFART was my favorite application ?

My 9 year old son overdubs pop tunes on GarageBand with the latest farts and it is absolutely brilliant.

Long live the App Store