I have been wondering why did BlackBerry remove one of my favorite features from BlackBerry World (formerly App World), the ability to gift via BBM. Ronen from over at BerryReview made several valid points that I would agree to. Bringing gifting and coupon codes to BlackBerry World would benefit everyone.
I also understand the business side to it, which is sales, sales of apps, games, etc, when the developer makes money so does BlackBerry. BlackBerry has been working very hard to bringing new developers and keeping current developers happy with their 10k developer/commitment program.
However there are also missed opportunities pointed out by Ronen that BlackBerry is missing out on in regards to making BlackBerry World better:
- Developers are unable to offer flash sales through different channels like Twitter
- Developers cannot give away copies of their app to create buzz or easily limit the number they give away
- Websites like BerryReview (also BlackBerry Empire) cannot easily run a contest to giveaway applications or offer readers discounts (This one really bothers me)
- Developers cannot offer discounts for beta testers, survey respondents, or long standing customers
- Developers cannot easily give websites review copies of their software
Hopefully the BlackBerry Dev Team can make a a possible fix for this and allow some sort of coupon codes, gifting, rewards, anything to not only keep the end user happy but have them coming back for more applications. I personally have bought tons of BlackBerry apps from BlackBerry World for not only myself but for several users when gifting was possible via BBM. We will see how BlackBerry improves BlackBerry World in that sense, until then stay tuned of any updates regarding a permanent fix/improvement, if not a temporary one.