In an attempt to make things right with their disgruntled customers after
the service outage last week, Reasearch In Motion is offering
a bunch of premium applications and games for free starting Wednesday October 19th. We have assembled links and short descriptions of the apps that RIM has announced as part of this deal after the break, and will continue to add to it as more become available. We ran
a poll asking if you think this is enough to make up for the outage, and it looks like so far the majority of people that voted are satisfied with the gesture RIM is making. I think it's awesome that RIM is making this available for all 70 million subscribers, even ones that weren't affected by last week's outage. This isn't a complete list either, as RIM stated -- they'll be switching them up as we go along so we'll update this post later as other apps become available.
Bejeweled
The classic gem-swapping puzzle game Bejeweled® comes to mobile with enhanced graphics and more fun than ever. String together three or more gems to rack up points in a fast-paced treasure hunt. Advance through levels in normal single-player mode or race the clock in timed mode. It’s a treasure trove of mobile fun!
More information/screenshots
Bubble Bash 2
Bash bubbles in a colorful environment with more addictive gameplay. Enjoy new challenges including the bubble pulley, pendulum, invasion & more!
More information/screenshots
DriveSafe.ly Pro
DriveSafe.ly 2.0 reads your text messages and emails out loud so you can concentrate on the road. DriveSafe.ly 2.0 Pro allows you to send text responses by voice and use other voice commands such as replaying the message or calling back the sender. Stay connected by listening to your messages without texting while driving or reading emails in your car. Respond by voice, hands-free. DriveSafe.ly is the answer to texting while driving.
More information/screenshots
Drive Safe.ly Enterprise
DriveSafe.ly 2.0 reads your text messages and emails out loud so you can concentrate on the road. DriveSafe.ly 2.0 Pro allows you to send text responses by voice and use other voice commands such as replaying the message or calling back the sender. Stay connected by listening to your messages without texting while driving or reading emails in your car. Respond by voice, hands-free. DriveSafe.ly is the answer to texting while driving. (This is for business users that need 10 or more copies.)
More information/screenshots
Nobex Radio Premium
Listen to premium, international content from over 16,000 stations in more than 100 countries around the world. Streaming is done either over WiFi, or through the carrier's network. If you have problems streaming, send us an email to support@nobexinc.com and we'll guide you how to set up the connection to the carrier network. Share what you are listening to with your friends through the new BBM integration, Facebook or Twitter!
More information/screenshots
N.O.V.A.
A fast-paced sci-fi action shooter game offering the richest gaming experience of its genre. Action packed and full of surprises.
More information/screenshots
Photo Editor Ultimate
Photo Editor Ultimate is the ultimate photo editor for your BlackBerry®! You can edit your images easily and send them to all your friends. A menu item will be shown when you use the file explorer and select images, which makes it easy to start editing. Includes 5 color filters; Gain, Gamma RGB, Map, Mask, Posterize and 8 new effects; Circle, Dissolve, Marble, Noise, Offset, Pinch, Sphere, Swim. Also, you can create a photo booth, time-warp part of an image and set the image as wallpaper.
More information/screenshot
Shazam Encore
Take the ultimate music journey with Shazam's premium app - Encore. Identify what song is playing (unlimited Tags), buy the track, share Tags by text, email, Twitter or Facebook, read track and album reviews, see what’s hot with Shazam’s Tag Chart, watch YouTube videos, search music by artist, track and lyrics, view lyrics and discover new music using Recommendations all in one app.
More information/screenshots
SIMS 3
Based on the number 1 PC game franchise of all time, The Sims 3 brings exciting new gameplay and endless possibilities all on your BlackBerry®! Enjoy unexpected moments of surprise and mischief, as you choose whether or not! to fulfill your Sims? destinies and make their wishes come true. Create and customize your Sims appearance and personality, then take your Sims out of the house and into the neighborhood with all new open world gameplay. Make their world your own!
More information/screenshots
Texas Hold’em Poker 2
Hit the table of the ultimate poker game! Play wild Texas Hold’em parties plus a new Omaha mode.
More information/screenshots
Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant
Vlingo is your very own Virtual Assistant. Simply speak to Vlingo and it will help you do more stuff, faster and easier than before. Try saying "Text John; What's up?" or "find italian restaurants" or even "update Facebook; I'm on a boat!" Download to learn everything Vlingo can do for you.
More information/screenshots
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shankeith Oct 18, 2011 at 10:38 am
o...so its not the playbook versions for the games....
sk8er_tor Oct 18, 2011 at 10:40 am
Was your PlayBook affected in any way, shape, or form?
bb.pl Oct 18, 2011 at 10:44 am
Yes. No bridge, emails, etc
123berryaddicted Oct 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
I do believe that if the apps are also available on pb they will work - for when I purchase an app on either my pb or phone, I can download it on both (paying only once). I don't see why this would be any different..
shankeith Oct 18, 2011 at 11:03 am
ah yes, completely forgot about that!
shankeith Oct 18, 2011 at 10:45 am
bridging yes, btw im not complaining, but i rather the games be on my playbook vs the phone, which i know im never going to be playing them on
misskalunji Oct 18, 2011 at 11:40 am
Yeah I don't play if any on my phone...But my PB is a different story:)
stevejb Oct 18, 2011 at 10:45 am
My PB was affected badly!
I couldn't use the data bridge for browsing etc, there were no emails for me to read, and i couldn't BBM....
doug1010 Oct 18, 2011 at 11:17 am
I used bridge for browsing on my playbook just fine during the outage. And used the browser to check my email...
daveshiz Oct 18, 2011 at 10:39 am
are all of these os7 compatible?
chi-town311 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
Agreed - I was hoping this post would clear up some of those questions. Which apps work on os7 and which ones don't. Plus, if they work, do they work well. I was checking out some of the reviews (vlingo Plus) specifically and I remember seeing that the most recent reviews all say do not download for OS7. WTF is that?!!?
AfroZepher Oct 18, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Wow. . .Getting an OS7 BB has yet to have any real positive to it. . .I'm pretty sure half of the apps being offered won't work for OS 7. . .
macbodock Oct 18, 2011 at 3:52 pm
chi-town,
I contacted Vlingo support this morning and just heard back from them. They advised that Vlingo 4.11.4 would work on a BlackBerry Torch 9850 running OS7. In the email that they sent me here is the important part:
"Yes, Vlingo for BlackBerry currently supports all BlackBerry devices running OS 7.0 (and higher). The current version of Vlingo that will run on your BlackBerry Torch 9850 is v4.11.4."
I just checked BB App world and this is the version that they have... Hope this helps
joelled Oct 18, 2011 at 4:41 pm
most of them are.
sk8er_tor Oct 18, 2011 at 10:39 am
There's a few I plan on getting!
laxcrespo1013 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:40 am
I'm DL them ALL!!!
NaijaBerry Oct 18, 2011 at 10:40 am
Will this also cover the PlayBook?
fastcivic416 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:52 am
i don't think this will cover the playbook but then again, u never know.
MaartenNL Oct 18, 2011 at 10:40 am
DriveSafe.ly Pro is not for free... It still wants to charge you 19.99 for the PRo app.
And still a shame shazam is not available for OS7 devices...
fastcivic416 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:41 am
its not available yet for download. this should change starting tomorrow.
daveshiz Oct 18, 2011 at 10:42 am
the offer starts tomorrow 19th october!
boldkeyboardholic Oct 18, 2011 at 3:27 pm
tomorrow it will be (don't know how at the moment but it will..) be free.
But if shazam is not available for OS7 well that's really sucks as this would have been an application I want.
Vlingo as well.
damnit
I'm not interested in the games.
I do miss-trust iSpeech as I got charged with 1.99€ Astro "premium"-sms here as iSpeed probably used internal codes which activated this in my country (dricesafe.ly)
glinc Oct 18, 2011 at 10:41 am
Lame RIM, LAME..... They should've given a free playbook to every BB user instead....not that is selling anyways.
fastcivic416 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:43 am
ur request is lame. seriously, u think that everyone who was affected by the outage should get a free playbook??
thecsman Oct 18, 2011 at 11:19 am
He's just trolling. Definitely a droidfan or apple fanboy.
MaartenNL Oct 18, 2011 at 10:42 am
Neither N.O.V.A is for free, what's the idea behind the title of the article?
MrPat Oct 18, 2011 at 10:46 am
Learn to read
"Research In Motion is offering a bunch of premium applications and games for free starting Wednesday October 19th."
fastcivic416 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:47 am
the offer doesn't start until tomorrow. in fact, the offer will be rolled out to certain regions between tomorrow and nov 30 but will be available for download until the end of the year. i know it sounds stupid but i think that's the smartest thing they could do with such short notice. the last thing they want is to give out this offer to everyone and then have appworld crash due to high volume. to roll it out to certain regions at a time and letting the downloads lighten up per region will lessen the stress put on their appworld servers.
smart move rim!
FranzJoseph Oct 18, 2011 at 10:48 am
On wednesday they`ll all be free. Gointo app world and open he A Thank You Girft folder and it explains in there.
psarna Oct 18, 2011 at 10:44 am
If only RIM first made the App World available every where in the world!
laxcrespo1013 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:47 am
This starts tomorrow people
Darlaten Oct 18, 2011 at 10:48 am
For the love of....people, it clearly states the free apps do NOT start until Wednesday, October 19th. The article is not misleading. Rather, you are misreading the article.
fastcivic416 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
i just wish that the app developers would make these apps available for os7 and more specifically for the 9860. i must've came across at least 10 apps that aren't compatible with my device!
i'm just hoping that some of these apps will be posted on the web as an ota download and i'm hoping that these paid apps won't be needing a registration key....
luqman24 Oct 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
Lame apps but hey they're free so I can't complain..
andrewmcwhirter Oct 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
I'm gonna download them all!
joski Oct 18, 2011 at 10:57 am
"A closer look at the premium apps RIM is offering free to gain your forgiveness for the outage" sounds like a blog entry on TiPb for starters.
Secondly, these comments are just as bad. Nothing is ever good enough for YOU PEOPLE.
doug1010 Oct 18, 2011 at 11:22 am
People are hilarious.
Wonder what would satisfy them? Human Sacrifices perhaps?
"I COULDN'T BBM! PEOPLE SHOULD DIE!"
>.>
I think these apps are more than enough.
bargainbuyer Oct 18, 2011 at 3:54 pm
I could care less about free apps. Not recieving information in a timely manner costs me money.
SHOW ME THE MONEY!!
I have all the apps (that I paid for already) that I need.
RIM apology is a good attempt but doesn't remedy the time and money avid users of bb has lost.
Give me a stable and secure platform to recieve my information in a timely manner. That is what I paid for. I dont want any more or any less.
I called my carrier and they will not give me anything for the interuption. Is RIM compensating the carriers? Will the end consumer recieve any compensation that actually costs RIM any money out of their pocket? Sure they spent money on ads and media to apologize. What does the user get? Free apps cost you nothing. You are giving something to me for free that I dont want in the first place. If I did, I would have bought it already.
once again
SHOW ME THE MONEY!
pineypl Oct 18, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Show you the money? Really? Did RIM give you a 5 9s uptime guarantee? Give it up, this is a nice little treat being thrown out there. Personally I don't want games and other such things, so I am not cashing in on those freebies, I am just glad my RIM/BB data is flowing properly again.
moflava Oct 18, 2011 at 6:47 pm
^^Well said. People don't realize that the SLAs for BBs are pretty amazing.
dancadman Oct 18, 2011 at 10:58 am
Okay, for those of you that didn't read the part that states the apps will be available starting tomorrow and are still trying to get those apps for free from app world, please do the world a favor and put your BB back in the box, send it to your carrier, and request an iPhone 4 your a$$. You are obviously too stupid to own a BB and should get a phone that is much more tailored to your feeble mind.
TripNFry Oct 18, 2011 at 11:19 am
+1
thecsman Oct 18, 2011 at 11:21 am
Yeah, first thing they should do is download the iFart app.
juwaack68 Oct 18, 2011 at 11:46 am
*Like*
helmstown Oct 18, 2011 at 11:12 am
Read reviews of apps! LOL RIM went through and picked the most crappy to marginal user rated apps.....then..offer to loyal customers who's data and email was virtually MISSING IN ACTION FOR DAYS ....EPIC FAIL IMO:(
Liquid_Revolver Oct 18, 2011 at 11:18 am
+100
Its not enough, at least give the consumer a choice...not the worst you have. You this Corp people with those missing e mails want a crappy APP...NO
ElSteve9 Oct 19, 2011 at 9:10 pm
pPPht. Everything in App World has bad reviews. The ones I've looked at have had surprisingly good reviews. Anything with three stars or more is great.
Sims 3, on the other hand....I suppose that's part of what you're referring to?
-Stephen
Hi Tek Oct 18, 2011 at 11:14 am
So I have 9900 and not a single one of these apps is for OS 7..... Wow RIM.... WOW... All I wanted was NOVA, Shazam, SIMS3 and Texas Hold'em... this is REALLY disappointing. Is there any chance an update will roll out for any of these apps to make OS 7 compatible?? Just can't believe RIM sucked us like that... I don't care to much for the outage, I just wanted free premium apps lol... guess not :(
DarshOne Oct 18, 2011 at 11:48 am
i had wondered about this in the back of my mind, but thought, surely these apps will work on my new flagship 250$ blackberry 9930 right? but alas, silly me, i should have known not to expect anything of value from RIM.
its bad enough they chose such a shitty selection of apps to giveaway, but seriously RIM? theyre not even compatible with the new phones you just released? can you do anything right? i mean that. honestly. can you?
TS_Cycle_Salvage433 Oct 18, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Your right, you shouldn't expect this from RIM. It's the developers job, not RIM's, to make their app OS7 compatible.
dakid72 Oct 18, 2011 at 2:17 pm
I had the same thought, got a 9930 and most of the previous games can't work, don't work or ain't gonna work and this sucks for us all that shell out big bucks for theses OS7 phones, don't get me wrong I love my phone, but RIM needs to get on the ball to get us something
Looking towards the future for us all
joelled Oct 18, 2011 at 4:34 pm
I'm not sure what you're looking at but based on my 9930, all those apps with the exception of probably shazam are compatible.... check app world again.
Arnold1 Oct 18, 2011 at 11:22 am
Aight I'm am verry looking forward to it
Andi tink I'm going to download them al and than delete the one's I don't neet but when I get a new bb or after somtime I tink I neet them I can reinstal them for free :)
walcolm Oct 18, 2011 at 11:37 am
are u sure you cn do that? if you download an app that is free then uninstall it. if it later becomes paid, are you sure you will still be able to download it without having to pay for it?
jermaine1082 Oct 18, 2011 at 2:57 pm
don't think u can download it is free temp time after time u gotta pay butu could back up ur 3rd party apps with BBSAK and thats my best guess of 1 way this may work( But not sure about going to new phone with the apps from old model doubt all will work maybe some, but i not a developer just an abuser)
BB_Bmore Oct 18, 2011 at 11:24 am
Funny how you look up shazzam in appworld and the free version is available for just about every blackberry made but if you look up the encore version that BlackBerry is giving out its only available for about 10 different phones and my 9670 is not one of them not to mention. The free games that are not compatible with my phone either!
TorrieB Oct 18, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Seriously????? So...the 9670 gets no love in this??? Well crap.
hohumm Oct 18, 2011 at 11:27 am
sucks that i totally bought shazam encore not too long ago lol
but whatever, i actually am not outraged over the outage even though i was affected for 24 hours.. stuff happens.. i think rim is actually doing way more than enough to get my forgiveness
kingb71 Oct 18, 2011 at 11:33 am
When do we find out what the rest of the apps are? These suck!
Lyls Oct 18, 2011 at 11:39 am
My question is, what's the difference between DriveSafely.Pro & DriveSafely.Enterprise? Is it simply that Enterprise is for BIS & Pro is for BES?
Firewalker96 Oct 18, 2011 at 11:49 am
Drive Safely Enterprise is for businesses needing 10 licenses or more. Should be the same as Drive Safely Pro.
DarshOne Oct 18, 2011 at 11:51 am
doesnt seem to be much f a difference between them, more just a way for RIM to be able to say they are giving out 2 apps when its really just one. its gonna be funny when theres all these new users of the drive safe and vlingo apps and they get to see how shitty they perform compared to android and siri
koroshiyax Oct 18, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Drivesafe.ly Enterprise works with BES, Pro does not.
maddie1128 Oct 18, 2011 at 1:42 pm
The description of the apps say that DriveSafely.Enterprise is for Enterprise (BES) the Pro version is for BIS, the average consumer.
dee.one Oct 18, 2011 at 11:48 am
Please RIM, give to your flagship OS7 customers more than 3 out of 10 compatible apps...
joelled Oct 18, 2011 at 4:40 pm
According to my 9930, at least 8 out of the 10 listed apps work... so unless my phone is special, your count is way off
Firewalker96 Oct 18, 2011 at 11:54 am
Can't believe people are complaining about how the apps aren't for the Playbook. It wasn't the Playbook service that went down, it was the service for their phones. Because their phones weren't working is the only reason they couldn't get to their Bridged apps on the Playbook. So the apps they are giving away are phone apps.
What I don't like is that a bunch of the apps don't work on OS7, since I have a Torch 9810. So hopefully the apps will be upgraded before the end of the year so that they work on OS7, since the freebies last only until the end of the year.
SCSIadmin Oct 18, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Wow, a service outage and all i got was this lousy t-shirt. Seriously RIM, I work in IT how hard is it to replace a core switch? It is my understanding most vendors depending on your support level will put a tech on a plane with a replacement switch if they don't have a nearby depot. Apps do me and my company no good. We rely on secured communications not a handheld gaming device, and I would venture a guess that most blackberry users remaining today are in the same boat. If you want games and apps, Blackberry just doesn't have them. I would like a month of service, a clean sweep of old hardware, something that we'll actually use.
TorrieB Oct 18, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Oh well...I was wondering why I couldn't find some of these apps on my 9670, they're not available for my phone. Not going to complain because the gesture is nice...just kinda wish they would've gestured more my way lol.
Slash82 Oct 18, 2011 at 12:45 pm
I don't want to troll, but I think that whole AppWorld gift is about marketing.
RIM expects that everyone starts to download apps at the same time and the servers will stand that.
Afterwards they gonna say:
"Look, there was a huuuugh storm on the AppWorld and our servers kept running! Now, did we restore your trust in us?!"
madx80h Oct 18, 2011 at 1:04 pm
I'm psyched about these free apps.
BBM/E-mail was down or intermittent for 1-3 days. RIM gives out $100 worth of APPs to all BlackBerry owners.
Sony's PSN Network was down for over a month, with millions of customers personal and financial data stolen. Sony gives out $50 worth of games for free.
Not a bad deal.
98hundred Oct 18, 2011 at 1:27 pm
I want more choices for OS7. Have a 9900, I only checked a few of these apps, couldn't find texas holdem. Only want that and drive safely.
oliverlock Oct 18, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Slightly annoying. The only app that I would download - Shazam Encore - is not available for OS7 and my 9900.
smrdroid Oct 18, 2011 at 3:21 pm
What are the differences between Drive Safely and Vlingo? I have never tried Drive Safely, but have ready some posts which indicate that it may create spam to user's contact lists. Is this true? I have used Vlingo for several years. My concern is that since it relies on communication with its servers, the Vlingo site could be overwhelmed with data traffic and bog down or crash.
protofa Oct 18, 2011 at 7:02 pm
fucking rim, at least make sure the apps offered are os7 compatible
edit: fucking rim!
jin-n-juice Oct 18, 2011 at 6:59 pm
RIM added Docs To Go Premium! https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150335330787701
kevo89#cb Oct 18, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Hmmm... so this is what it feels like to be the girlfriend in a relationship after a fight.
I like it!
genoboy Oct 18, 2011 at 8:52 pm
hope they also get be buzz full for free
gordonzhao Oct 18, 2011 at 9:45 pm
This is nice of RIM, my question is, after December 31st, will these apps be available for update to us that have downloaded it. Or will they even work? Is this like a "premium-trial" or is this, once you've got the app in your app world account it's yours for life.
Lovin_Soul_Glo Oct 19, 2011 at 12:14 am
ITS WEDNESDAY WHERE ARE MY APPS :D. /SARCASM
daveshiz Oct 19, 2011 at 1:38 am
i know its early but i,m 2 hours into my dayshift and am quiet so i thought i,d attempt
to download apps all are still with price attached advice anyone or is this a keep trying
all day one ???
i,m still waiting to hear which ones are os7 compatible and available here in the uk also ??
drivesafely has now came up with compliments of bb ,
it looks like they are releasing one by one ?
HorseVu Oct 19, 2011 at 1:20 am
For Bold 9900/OS7, here are the results as of 10/19/2011 1:20AM:
SIMS 3 - $2.99
Bejeweled - $2.99
N.O.V.A. - N/A
Texas Hold’em Poker 2 - N/A
Bubble Bash 2 - N/A
Photo Editor Ultimate - FREE
DriveSafe.ly Pro - FREE
iSpeech Translator Pro - FREE
Drive Safe.ly Enterprise - FREE
Nobex Radio™ Premium - N/A
Shazam Encore - N/A
Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant - $19.99
dasser74 Oct 19, 2011 at 3:24 am
I'm only getting DriveSafe.ly showing up as my 'gift'. The other apps i searched for and they require payment. WTF?
Can they do anything right first time? How lame is this company? The truth is, Apple, Droid and BlackBerry all suck balls. Give me my 5-day battery lasting Nokia any day!! hahaha
EDIT: fuck you (arse)RIM!!
Pyxie Oct 19, 2011 at 4:03 am
From Blackberry on FB: The various premium apps will become available (free of charge) on BlackBerry App World on different dates between October 19 – November 30.
RWD Oct 19, 2011 at 7:53 am
Only Drive Safe.ly this morning for my ancient 8900. Of course, I barely have any app storage left.
Sucks if PB versions won't be part of this.
howboutdat Oct 19, 2011 at 11:12 pm
DL'ed Drive Safe.ly Pro and it works only half the time, and the voice response isn't cooperating at all-read the FAQs and still ending up with nothing-not complaining about the free part, but aggravated that it doesn't work as advertised...
Hdesign3 Oct 24, 2011 at 11:52 am
well I went to the app world and only two apps show up under the gift folder. Drive safe and a game.
what happened to Vlingo being free also????
Jon Hanson Oct 25, 2011 at 2:36 am
they havent released any lately, have they?
Hdesign3 Oct 25, 2011 at 12:57 pm
DONT SEEM THAT WAY. AND THE DRIVESAFE APP IS A POS! I CANT BELIEVE RIM WILL GIVE US AN APP THAT BARELY WORKS BUT IT SURE KILLS YOUR BATTERY AND LOCKS THE DEVICE UP! THIS IS A SURE WAY TO PUSH US INTO IPHONE!