While we often complain about Apple's over-curation of the App Store, here's a cautionary tale about what happens when a $500 BlackBerry App World "app" meets a CrackBerry.com founder left alone in Vegas without adult supervision.

I'll save the back story of how I decided I needed to buy the app for our next CrackBerry Podcast (for now let's just say I was triple dog dared into it), but buy it I did. And you know what they say, What happens in Vegas ends up on Youtube, so check out the video above to see this Limited Edition desktop clock app get purchased and installed onto my BlackBerry Bold 9900. While at the time of purchase I thought this was the most expensive app in App World, turns out there are quite a few overpriced clock apps in there. And while I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world to have bought the Cesar HQ app, looking at the other clock apps I discovered one review by another person on another $600 clock app, so it looks like there is at least one other sucker out there.

Apple yanked the notorious I Am Rich app from the App Store a short time after it launched and has made it a policy not to allow similar apps since. While RIM evidently doesn't enforce similar restrictions, and it was nice of Kevin to single-handily double App World sales last night, bottom line, Adam is never allowed leaving Vegas before Kevin does again.

Source: CrackBerry.com

BlackBerry maker RIM has just announced that they'll be providing a way for developers to package, sign, and distribute Android apps for the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. (They'll also be able to develop BlackBerry Java and, soon, C/C++ apps). iPad has a huge head start, but this could prove an interesting way to mitigate that lead:

"The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet. The power that we have embedded creates one of the most compelling app experiences available in a mobile computing device today," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform."

Support will be provided for Android 2.3 apps, so more Galaxy Tab 7-inch style big phone apps than Android 3.0 Honeycomb-style tablet apps on something like the Xoom, but it does immediately skyrocket the potential number of apps available for the PlayBook.

"Potential" because that devs have to choose on a individual basis to submit their apps to BlackBerry App world. It doesn't look like PlayBook is getting the Android Market (or Amazon Appstore), or that all Android 2.3 apps can just be sideloaded and run on the PlayBook. I'm guessing if the process is easy -- there will be some porting involved and the apps will run in a "player" on the PlayBook -- and the money there -- if PlayBook sells well -- devs might just jump on the extra customer pool.

So does this change anything on the competitive landscape? Could it make PlayBook one of the strongest Android tablet alternatives in addition to its BlackBerry foundation? Could it pose even more of a threat to Apple's iPad 2? Or do too many development choices harm the overall experience?

[CrackBerry and Android Central... sitting in a tree...]

Was Apple's just released App Store announcement -- and Steve Jobs' remark about how difficult it will be for others to catch up -- conveniently timed to preempt Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference where, according to our sibling site WMExperts, details of Windows Marketplace for Mobiles are emerging?

1.5 billion downloads, 100,000 developers, and 65,000 apps is a good old Jobsian gut punch to knock the wind of out any Microsoft news about WinMo 6.0 support, Windows Marketplace Business Center, and whatever else comes out from the folks up in Redmond.

It also combines in a very tidy roshambo to Verizon's recent revelation that, according to Engadget Mobile, BlackBerry App World or Windows Marketplace won't be built into devices on that carrier(?!)... and we won't go much further on that bone-headed, short-sighted, anti-openness news since our cursing would get Parental Control level 17+ slapped on this post...

Keeping it short but sweet, Skype's blog shows once again how crazy-powerful Apple's iPhone software platform really is:

In less than two days, Skype for iPhone has been downloaded more than one million times – around six downloads every second.

While copypetitors are still announcing or coming online (almost daily, with RIM's App World! launch on April 1st -- we fool you not! -- and Microsoft's Marketplace) this showcases the high ground Apple has already seized with their "on every iPhone" ecosystem, and the uphill battle rival platforms might face.

[Via Daring Fireball]

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Last night's iPhone Live! was pretty darn good -- so good, in fact, that it created a cross-border, pan-dimensional bug that kept us from recording the first 20 minutes properly. We recapped it a bit, but those who it hit it up live got a special treat. Rest assured, though, we have more than enough to talk about with the new Kindle iPhone App, what it means for Apple, Amazon, and when it might go international - so if you missed iPhone Live!, go ahead and check out this here podcast.

Background Reading

• Review: Belkin TuneCast Auto with ClearScan for iPhone 3G
• Amazon Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch Now in the iTunes App Store
• Could an Apple iTablet be a Kindle e-Book and e-Comic Killer?
• Speculation Alert: Does This Mean March 24 Will be iPhone 3.0 Beta? iTablet? What?!

• Attack of the iClones: It’s a Small BlackBerry App World After All!

• Bonus Dieter Recommended Reading: The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age by John Siracusa, Ars Technica

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat, or sent in questions!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

So, RIM has made their big App Store -- sorry -- App World announcement and the big news from over on CrackBerry.com is that it will have regulated pricing tiers. What does that mean?

Apple, who is often (and often rightly) accused of being near-fascist in the control they exercise on the App Store still lets developers charge what they want for an App, be it free, $0.99, $2.99, $9,99 or whatever. RIM on the other hand, has created a menu of prices from which developers have to choose. Most surprisingly -- and upsettingly it seems to the CrackBerry Nation -- is that after free, the next cheapest tier is $2.99. Yup, no $0.99 apps for the BlackBerry, fart fueled or otherwise.

So here's the question: is that a Good Thing? Will forcing developers to choose between free and $2.99 make them put more work into making better apps to warrant the higher price point? Will it clear out the shoddy, quicky, apps that glut up Apple's App store? Or will it mean all $0.99 apps just go free and take the ad-supported route?

If Apple decided turn about was fair play and iCloned RIMs apparent ban on $0.99 apps, would that make the App Store better or worse? Would it make you happy, or just [redacted] you off?

CrackBerry.com is reporting that BlackBerry maker RIM has finally settled on a name for their version of the App Store: App World.

See, it's not a place to buy applications, it's a planetary system where apps spawn and live SIM lives, and... argh. Who knows?

RIM is expected to spin it 'round their sun some time tonight. Given that BlackBerry's can only store applications on the tiny sliver of internal RAM left after the OS and filesystem have taken their share (estimated to be 50-100 megs as opposed to 7-15GB on the iPhone), it's likely to be a small, small App World after all.

To be fair (not that we want to remove our tongue from our cheek any time soon), RIM has to respond to the App Store, just like Google did with Android Market, Nokia is doing with the Ovi Store and Microsoft is doing with SkyMarket, and Palm will do with the Pre. Apple has again changed the game, and if the other players can't out-innovate, to keep up they must at least replicate.

So, anyone going trade in their iPhone Apps and run back to RIM come launch time?