In May, BlackBerry announced its App World had over 120,000 apps, bolstered by growing developer interest in its platform. It turns out that S4BB, a Hong Kong-based software company, accounts for more than 48,000 of them.
BerryReview first noticed that searching for S4BB on BlackBerry App World generated—as of this afternoon—48,239 results. The apps all work, though the majority of them only perform very basic tasks. Apps like Easy Smiley Pack, Daily Quote, Silent Foto Free and Mega Fart don’t exactly have sophisticated functionality.
“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,” BlackBerry said in a statement.
“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.”
For a company in the throes of financial upheaval and on the brink of being sold, this new stigma will only drive app developers further away. The discovery confirms that BlackBerry App World’s colossal app numbers are nothing but inflated statistics, and more importantly, that more than one-third of the apps are essentially duds.
