"For Apple, it's the device that made the innovative applications," Entner said. "The App Store just made it easier to bring it among the people." However, once the first wave of applications did well, their apparent business success led some developers to join in for the money, he added.

One reason RIM and others will have a harder time is that Apple has only had to sell applications for one handset and for one carrier per country. The BlackBerry platform spans several phone models and service providers.

Today, when subscribers buy an application from a carrier, they typically can download it again later to another phone, as long as there's a compatible version, Entner said. Such swaps are likely to be more complicated for software bought from a RIM store, he said. RIM will want to allow its customers to download the product free after changing carriers, but the new service provider will want to get its share of the sale.

"The carrier won't take the revenue hit," Entner said. In the long term, handset stores run by device makers will give way to carrier stores because of these business complications, he believes.

Like other Apple rivals, RIM has tried to distinguish its shop from the App Store. For example, RIM said in October it would spell out its terms for developers as clearly as possible. Some developers have attacked Apple for allegedly removing applications from the App Store based on policies that weren't clear.