RIM Launching A BlackBerry Social Network For Venting Tomorrow

by editor on Jul.13, 2009, under TechCrunch

picture-56 Perhaps you’ve noticed that apps aren’t exactly flying off the virtual shelves in BlackBerry’s App World store, like they are in Apple’s App Store. The store is hard to navigate and there’s confusion about several of the apps, are the main complaints we’re hearing (along with memory issues). And RIM hopes to alleviate some of those problems with the launch of its own social network for BlackBerry users tomorrow, we’re told.

The network, called MyBlackBerry, gives device owners a social profile where they can share opinions on their favorite apps, accessories as well as tips and tricks they use on their devices. More importantly, they can also vent about all of these things with fellow users, and RIM will be there to listen. The whole thing looks more like a bulletin board than what you might consider to be a traditional social network nowadays, but that’s probably a good idea to streamline it and make it all about information.

The site will be personalized based on what actual BlackBerry device you have, we’re told. So you won’t see loads of information about the BlackBerry Storm, if you don’t have that model.

We haven’t seen the main profile pages, but I’d hope there’d be a way to share what your personal favorite apps are (there is a site-wide top apps column in the left-hand side of the navigation). That would be a bit like the third-party AppsFire which just launched to share your favorite iPhone apps, and make them more social.

Overall, this seems like a pretty good idea, one that maybe even Apple should steal to let iPhone users talk about their apps. At the very least, it will be a good place to vent about issues.

MyBlackBerry will be live tomorrow.