RIM lowers cost of apps in European BlackBerry World store

Research In Motion is lowering the cost of the cheapest application price tier on BlackBerry World in order to make applications more attractive, as the company prepares to launch BlackBerry 10.

The first wave of RIM's planned changes will update the British Pound and Euro currencies in BlackBerry World, the company wrote in a blog post on Sunday.

The lowest price tier in the U.K. will change to £0.75 (US$1.18), compared to the current £1. In countries that use the Euro, the cost of the lowest price tier will vary by country. For example, in France it will change from ¬0.99 (US$1.33) to ¬0.89, according to RIM.

The goal with the changes is to make applications and other types of content more attractive to users in the U.K. and the Euro zone by ensuring prices are in line with currency fluctuations and VAT rates, RIM wrote.

The BlackBerry World name was introduced last week when RIM removed App from the name of its web store to signal that users will soon be able to download videos and music from the store in addition to applications.

For RIM it's an important week; on Wednesday it will introduce one all-touch smartphone and another model with a touchscreen and a physical QWERTY keyboard based on BlackBerry 10.

The all-touch model, reportedly called the Z10, has been surrounded with leaked images, videos and specs. It is expected to have a 4.2-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels, and an 8-megapixel camera.

The main BlackBerry 10 launch event will take place in New York, and is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. RIM is also organizing events in Toronto, London, Paris, Johannesburg and Dubai.

Send news tips and comments to mikael_ricknas@idg.com