BlackBerry announced a deal Wednesday with Amazon.com that will allow users of its devices to access the Amazon Appstore for app purchase, a move that BlackBerry hopes will attract new consumers and bolster sales of the smartphone brand.
The deal adds the Appstore's 240,000 applications to BlackBerry mobile devices. The Appstore will be available for BlackBerry users when the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system is released in the fall.
"Making the Amazon Appstore available on BlackBerry 10 devices will help BlackBerry continue to meet two essential needs: greater app availability for our smartphone users and enhanced productivity solutions for enterprises," BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in a statement.
BlackBerry has struggled to counter the popularity of competitors, due in part to the lack of an expansive application marketplace. BlackBerry currently offers about 130,000 apps through its own online store, compared to more than 1 million available in both Apple's App Store and Google Play for Android.
The deal comes one day before BlackBerry announces its first-quarter fiscal results, which are expected to show a loss. Wednesday's announcement could appease BlackBerry investors and provide optimism that the company is on the rise, despite a low first quarter.
It is a busy day for Amazon, as the company is expected to announce its own smartphone Wednesday. Chen told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that Amazon's smartphone release shouldn't affect BlackBerry's deal with Amazon, as the two company have different focuses.
