BlackBerry smartphones running the latest version of the company’s operating system (BB10) are lovely, but they don’t have access to anywhere near as many apps as Android phones do, since BlackBerry World’s selection hasn’t yet caught up with Google’s Play Store.
Fortunately, there’s a way around this. The Amazon Appstore has a near-identical app lineup to Google’s Play Store, and there’s a way to get it onto smartphones running BB10. That will give BB10 BlackBerry owners a lot more apps to choose from that work natively on their phones.
Sound good? Here’s how to do it.
First, you’ll need to get the Amazon Appstore… er… app. Open a browser on your phone and point it to http://www.amazon.com/getappstore.
A page will load, showing a big Download the Amazon Appstore button. Press on that sucker to proceed, then press on AmazonApps-release.apk, and then on Install. The app will download. Once it’s done, press on Install again.
You should then be informed that you will need to change your security settings to allow apps from sources other than BlackBerry World to be installed. Press on Settings, then slide the “Allow Apps from Other Sources to be Installed” switch from Off to On. Press Back, and then Install.
Once the installation is complete, you must accept the Amazon Appstore’s request to access your Shared Files and Location.
Finally, you are ready to open the app itself. Press Open, then Continue once it loads.
Now select your country, and enter your Amazon.com username and password. If you don’t have one, head over to Amazon’s primary website and sign up quickly.
Once that’s done, the app opens onto the landing page, and all of Amazon’s apps are yours to browse – and more importantly, install and run – on your BlackBerry BB10 smartphone. Well done!
Finally, before you head off to do this yourself, here’s some parting wisdom: one of the nicest things about the Amazon Appstore is that it offers a paid-for app, for free every single day of the year. Some are misses, but occasionally you’ll get lucky and find a game or app you may have been eyeing being offered for mahala, making it well worth logging into every day.