There has been a clear commitment from BlackBerry to developers, with tools focused on usability and ease of development; increased involvement and contribution to open source; reinvigorated community event involvement over the last six months; new energy and leadership in Alec Saunders and MartynMallick; as well as the unprecedented seeding of a non-commercial testing device - the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device - at BlackBerry 10 Jam in Orlando this May.

BlackBerry App Milestones - Q4

21% increase in BlackBerry smartphone apps

89% increase in BBM connected apps

240% increase in PlayBook apps submitted to App World

BlackBerry Developer Milestones - Q4

68% increase in vendors registered on App World

42% increase in apps submitted to App World by developers

137% increase in PlayBook apps approved for sale

Built porting guides to allow WebOS and jQuery apps to be ported to PlayBook

Announced port of Qt to allow Nokia developers to target PlayBook and soon, BlackBerry 10

Launched BlackBerry Native SDK 2.0 for the BlackBerry PlayBook

Prior to PlayBook OS 2.0 launch, incented 10,000 new developers to register as BlackBerry developers, with offer of a PlayBook in exchange for an app. Over 7,000 new apps submitted

Since its launch 10 weeks ago, the BlackBerry Developer Success Story page has added more than 20 stories with more to come soon

Total BBM Connected apps- 735

Total BBM Connected downloads - 183 million

BlackBerry Apps -By the Numbers

More than 70,000 apps in App World

More than 40,000 apps in App World in the Middle East

More than 15,000 PlayBook apps

More than 2 billion total apps downloaded

More than 24 million downloads in the Middle East

177 million apps downloaded per month

Developer Contacts:
"We've had tremendous success in the Middle East over the past year. Since BlackBerry App World became available in the region in May 2011, we have developed and launched over 35 apps for both the BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry smartphones. Our reach has been global, with many of our applications being downloaded from the rest of the world, mainly our Islamic apps such as Quran Mojawed and Sahih Muslim. In 2011 alone, we recorded over 600,000 app downloads, and by February this year, we've reached over 1 million, which is a fantastic figure," said Mohamed Essawi, General Manager, Asgatech Lower Gulf.

"We have been working with RIM in the Middle East for several years now, and throughout this period have developed several localized apps that are relevant to the Middle East, such as Boum App, a UGC application for the UAE, as well as the recently released Sports Vibe application, both of which have seen great download figures via App World," said Mohamed Ali, Managing Director and Co-Founder at ZeroWire Labs."ZeroWire Labs is also a member of the Middle East chapter of the BlackBerry Alliance Programme, where we work with other developers to create content for BlackBerry App World in the Middle East."

-Ends-

Analyst Contacts (these contacts have been briefed on various platforms):
Scott Ellison, VP Mobile & Consumer Connected Platforms at IDC:
sellison@idc.com
650-350-6440

Josh Martin, Director of Apps Research at Strategy Analytics:
JMartin@strategyanalytics.com
617-614-0730

Media Contact:
Rabih Habayeb
First&42nd (PR Agency for RIM)
Rabih.Habayeb@First42.com