Research in Motion, the company that makes Blackberry smartphones, is slated to launch its own application store on April 1.

RIM's move comes amid growing competition among handset makers in the area of compatible software, spurred by advances made by Apple and its Apple App Store which now has thousands of free and paid applications.



RIM

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is said to the person who will have the honor of opening the doors to Blackberry's App World on April 1 at the wireless industry's annual trade show in Las Vegas.

Other handset makers have their own app stores, namely Google's Android Market, Nokia's Ovi Store, Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and Palm's App Catalog, among others.

[Via ]