MySpace Blackberry App downloaded 400,000 times in 7 days

You read that right.

400,000 downloads of the official RIM application for MySpace.

15 million messages have been sent using the app in the 7 days since it’s been live. 2 million mood and status updates already.

You know, somewhere in RIM, there’s a chap or lady who was nominally in charge of applications and encouraging third party developers.

Let’s assume it’s a man because I can call him a chap.

This chap has been going about his business signing up the odd company, now and again, to the RIM partner programme. I’ve been along to various RIM events and whilst it’s good news to see lots of apparent innovation on the platform, the reality is that whilst you fill the room with maybe 40 ‘partners’ in the UK, that’s actually shit. Really shit.

To become a RIM partner — to actually develop for RIM — total flocking arse. An unmitigated arse.

Nobody bothers, generally. Because RIM hardly encouraged it. Yes, they did the odd token head-nod to your bedroom developer. IF you can be arsed, IF you can find the documentation, IF IF IF, then yeah, you too can create a RIM application. Please send the required proof of degrees. You need a degree in brain surgery to knock up an application for RIM.

That’s how it’s been.

The developer support chap has been either highly underfunded or more or less ignored by the wider company.

They’ve been absolutely shit with the developer community.

Until Steve Jobs knocked up a half billion industry overnight in the form of the Apple iTunes App Store.

And you could see the folks at RIM positively choking with shock.

I can imagine the ‘you what?’ and the ‘Er? Seriously?’ comments around the various RIM board tables.

Whatever RIM were doing previously, it was rubbish. So the announcements of a Blackberry App Store began to trickle out.

Well duh.

With a massive, massive installed base of users who can do nothing but email or play that really STUPID pinball game by default — and with some reasonable capable devices out in the marketplace, many with GPS on-board — there’s a bit of pent-up-demand.

Here’s your next dagger-in-the-wall for RIM.

400,000 of their consumers have downloaded the MySpace app in 7 days. That is 57,000 per day. Or 2,380 downloads per hour. Super news. Absolutely super news.

But a fooking wake-up call for RIM.

Get off your arse and get a decent developer programme out the door — one that your average iPhone developer can grab with gusto and get developing. Get the marketplace store up and running pronto. The Facebook app wasn’t just an abberation. All of a sudden — with this MySpace news — there’s proof that the Blackberry user does actually want to do more than ping emails about the place.

Download the Blackberry MySpace app at the Blackberry MySpace Hub.