BlackBerry claims 100,000 apps for BB10 devices

Seven weeks after it launched its new BlackBerry 10 operating system, BlackBerry has announced it now has over 100,000 apps on its app marketplace, adding 30,000 new titles to the marketplace in that time. To mark the occasion, BlackBerry says that Amazon Kindle, OpenTable and the Wall Street Journal have seen their apps go live today, with eBay, Skype, Rdio, Viber, and other high-profile apps due to hit the store in the “coming weeks.”

BlackBerry has pushed hard to get app developers to submit their apps, and whilst it doesn’t have superstar app titles like Instagram available, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare were all onboard at the BlackBerry 10 launch in February. Unlike Apple or Google, where all apps are native to the operating system, BlackBerry also relies on its ability to support Android apps, which is based on a version of Android that is pushing two years of age (although support for Android 4.1 is coming). Developers can sign Android apps for inclusion on BlackBerry World, which takes some of the gloss off an otherwise impressive milestone.

It’s an encouraging start for company, which still counts the BlackBerry Z10 as its only BB10 smartphone, but it will have to try to get the likes of Instagram, Netflix (both of which have declined to release an official app) and other major apps to launch on the platform if it wants to lure consumers away from iOS and Android.