BlackBerry’s App World gets a rebrand — music and video are on the way

With just more than a week to go before the official launch of BlackBerry 10, RIM has officially flicked the switch and implemented the new name for its store — it’s dropped the word ‘app’ from BlackBerry App World and gone with a more open BlackBerry World. And because it’s not all just about apps anymore, it has also taken the opportunity to reiterate that its store will soon be stocked with music, TV shows and movies for download, along with the usual apps and games.

In an official blog post, BlackBerry said the “change reflects a shift in the type of things you can purchase from the store as we transition to BlackBerry 10 and beyond”. The changes have already hit the web version of the store, but will only start rolling out to BlackBerry PlayBook and smartphone users in the coming weeks.

The company didn’t give details about exactly when the new multimedia content (which will be “limited in some regions”) would be available, simply saying it plans to be the “one-stop shop for all of your mobile entertainment needs”.

It has also been hard at work making sure the amount and variety of apps available is substantial, hosting ‘port-a-thons’ to encourage developers to easily convert their apps to run on BlackBerry devices — at one weekend-long event, it received 15 000 app submissions.