We suppose it had to end sometime: Research in Motion's BlackBerry smartphones are no longer number one in the U.S. We've covered RIM's various follies in other stories, but perhaps the biggest reason for this slip in market share applies to apps. Simply put, BlackBerry 7 OS has fallen behind in the apps race.
The BlackBerry App World, the official BlackBerry app store, remains awkward and difficult to use, two and a half years after launch, and even in version 3.0 guise. Popular apps often don't pop up in searches because they haven't been certified for a certain model of BlackBerry—even though they may work fine. If you have an AT&T or T-Mobile BlackBerry, you can buy apps and apply the charge to your phone bill, but devices on other carriers still require a separate PayPal account, which has its own issues.
Fortunately, App World isn't the only place to get BlackBerry apps. The independent store GetJar does a brisk business, and so does Handmark. Some apps are only available through their companies' own Web sites.
Over the past year and a half, we've seen less interest in BlackBerry apps here at PCMag.com than on other platforms. Therefore, we've trimmed our BlackBerry list to the top 10 apps. You can be guaranteed that every one of the apps on our list is a smash hit; a few even take advantage of BlackBerry OS 6's enhancements, though few recognize BlackBerry 7 devices yet (and often don't even appear in BlackBerry App World). As always, if you know of other great free BlackBerry apps, please tell us about them in the comments section below.
