John Paczkowski of All Things D is reporting that BlackBerry has seen some success with its developer outreach efforts, “though perhaps not quite the sort it would like.”
Upon looking into the BlackBerry World app storefront, BerryReview found that some 47,000 of the applications available were created by a developer called S4BB.
When you consider that there are only 120,000 apps available in BlackBerry World, it’s not a promising reality that more than a third of those apps were published by just one developer.
S4BB, if you’re not familiar, is a developer for whom “quality doesn’t appear to be a priority.”
As Paczkowski subsequently explained, some of S4BB’s creations are barely apps at all.
Among its offerings: Innumerable lock apps, repurposed city guides, audiobooks, and an array of content apps that seem to be built around RSS feeds from the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Weather Service and the CDC. And then there’s Mega Shaver, Mega Machine Gun and, inevitably, Mega Fart.
When asked for comment, BlackBerry didn’t have much to say about its most prolific developer.
“Developers in all app stores employ a number of different monetization tactics. BlackBerry World is an open market for developers and we let market forces dictate the success or failure of these tactics,” said BlackBerry spokesman Adam Emery. “Discoverability in overcrowded stores continues to be an issue affecting all developers. This is why we have worked hand in hand with developers on the Built for BlackBerry program to help showcase apps and games that exemplify the power of BlackBerry 10.”
