BlackBerry’s App World is the most popular application store for smartphones in SA, new research has found. A report by Columinate and commissioned by Vodacom polled 11 industry professionals, about 400 smartphone owners and 35 developers.

App World’s lead over the likes of the Apple App Store the Android Market is no doubt a result of the number of BlackBerry devices in the SA market.

Apple’s iOS ecosystem was deemed by Columinate to have the best quality and selection of apps, while Google’s Android got the nod for the easiest to use apps.

From the developer side, the study claims that 77% of developers write apps for two or more platforms and 58% of are primarily motivated to develop apps because of the revenue they stand to earn.

The bulk of developers focus on Android — though it isn’t considered the easiest to monetise, it is apparently the easiest to code for. The BlackBerry ecosystem is considered the most difficult to develop for.

Most developers surveyed said they were concerned that the shortage of SA programmers would make it difficult to sustain growth in the local app market.

Encouraging news for developers, though, is that, of the smartphone users who participated in the study, 83% said they were willing to pay up to R100 for an app, with only 11% saying they would never pay.

However, this willingness to pay for apps varied across platforms. For example, 80% of Apple owners have paid for an app, compared to only 33% of BlackBerry users.

The report suggests the biggest challenges facing the SA app industry are the fragmentation of devices, platforms and standards as well as the ongoing popularity of mobile Web-based services due to their platform neutrality and the relative immaturity of the market.

In addition, barriers to consumers paying for applications and the cost of mobile data are seen as impediments to the growth of the SA app industry. The latter also goes some way to explaining the popularity of BlackBerry in the SA market on account of its fixed-cost BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS).

“Networks are considered to be in a favourable position to act as enablers as they have the ability to drive app demand, interact with consumers and provide a gateway for developers to get their apps to the market,” the report says.

Further support for the idea of operators as app providers comes from the report’s assertion that a staggering 78% of SA smartphone owners are not comfortable using their credit cards online, and would rather use airtime or be billed directly.

This ties in with this morning’s announcement by Vodacom that it will launch its own app store, Vodacom Apps, on 1 September, allowing consumers on most platforms — Apple devices are excluded — to buy software using airtime among other payment options. — Craig Wilson, TechCentral