BMW is developing an application store specifically for in-car use.

A year after the launch of Apple’s application store, some 56,000 applications are now available for users of the iPhone and iPod Touch. While several commentators wonder when this boom will end, the PSFK team thinks that asking that type of question is a little like asking when the number of websites would stop growing back in 1994. Apps are the new website, no? Some apps are going to be tremendously popular and others will potter along with a few downloads but still keeping their makers’ happy.
Application Store

Research in Motion (RIM) launched the “App World” earlier this month for their Blackberry smartphone in hopes of capitalizing on the success of Apple’s App Store.  Users can download the update for free on their compatible phones, but it requires a PayPal account to pay for apps.  Many popular iPhone applications are already appearing in the store and it offers a new marketplace for mobile developers.
The store currently boasts around a thousand applications, in comparison to Apple’s store offering around 15,000, but RIM clearly hopes to appeal to similar developers with a pricing model starting at $3 for paid applications.  [...]

Ars Technica points us to the growing concern over App Store applications getting ripped off and/or copied by other developers. The applications they compare are two eBook readers: Classics and Classics: Jane Austen. Classics is popular, and was featured on Apple’s broadcasted iPhone ads. Classics: Jane Austen however is a mirror-image of the application, both in graphics and interface.
Developers trying to benefit from the success of others on the App Store is nothing new. The most common method thus far has been to use the names of some of the more popular apps in the description of a different app, [...]