RIM Says More Developers Work For BlackBerry

Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) has announced that it has added more developers and mobile application development experts to work on BlackBerry products. The announcement came after YouMail, Inc. said it would stop working on RIM’s products.

The company said it has stopped developing projects for Blackberry’s visual voicemail app because users prefer Android phones and Apple’s iPhones. It also said the customer base of BlackBerry continues to shrink and that it’s no longer with YouMail’s best interest to keep developing for RIM.

RIM was quick to refute YouMail assertion. RIM vice president for developer relations Alec Saunders posted in his blog saying YouMail’s basic premise is wrong. Saunders said that visual voicemail is a dying business because most phones come with that feature.

YouMail is a company that offers visual voicemail to smartphones.

Whether the YouMail’s claim is accurate or not, the move is another blow to RIM’s struggles. The BlackBerry maker saw its market share decline, no thanks to Apple. Its Android-equipped handsets also did not meet expectations for the last five quarters.

Saunders said developers are staying with BlackBerry. The company also vows to redouble its efforts to retain its customers. He said that more developers have registered with its App World. From 9,600 developers last year, the base has now grown to 34,000.

The company also said it would review joint ventures, partnerships and licensing to ensure that customers remain happy with the company.

ComScore has reported that RIM’s market share in the smartphones category has dropped to 13.4 percent as of February 2012. Android and Apple have the biggest share at a combined 80.3 percent.

Tagged Alec Saunders, BlackBerry, RIM, YouMail