This morning I got press release alerting the media about BlackBerry App World expanding to additional nine African countries . The mentioned countries are Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Lesotho.

“We are delighted to be introducing BlackBerry App World to customers in an additional nine African markets today,” says Waldi Wepener, Regional Director for East, West and Central Africa, Research In Motion. “A rich catalog of BlackBerry apps is waiting to help customers personalize their smartphone, while also making personal time more fun and work time more productive.”

Now this got me thinking. BlackBerry App World has been around in Africa in selected countries, i assume South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Probably Ghana. If that is the case then it means more than 30 countries are still not covered.  Imagine if Africa was one country, one launch of the product in Nairobi, Johannesburg or Lagos and that it is, everyone in the continent enjoy the benefit.     A continent of 1 billion people will leave everyone drooling to be part of the next big thing, “United States Of Africa” . Well there so many things which will not allow Africans to unite including external forces and others like different laws, different cultures and different everything but that is a story for another day.

Meanwhile the following are some of the Key features of BlackBerry App World:

• Intuitive Design – The BlackBerry App World helps users easily discover the latest and most popular apps and content, starting right on the BlackBerry App World home screen.
• My Account – My Account makes managing your BBID (BlackBerry ID) and payment options easy with direct access to all account information from the home screen.
• My World Features – My World gives users a streamlined view of their apps, showing which apps are installed, uninstalled or if there is an update available. Users can also easily manage subscription content and services.  When new updates or subscription renewals are available for apps, users are notified using push technology.
• App Social Sharing – when a user finds an app they love, they can share it directly from the app details screen through BBM, Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS.
• App Details Screen – At a glance, users can get a quick summary, check out reviews and star ratings, take a look at screen shots, and more.
• Search Options – Quickly find apps through the Search Bar, which appears on the storefront home screen and within each category, providing users with the ability to filter by App Name, Price, Rating, Newest, Best Match, or Popular.

Customers can download BlackBerry App World to their smartphone by visiting www.blackberry.com/appworld or mobile.blackberry.com. BlackBerry App World can then be conveniently accessed over both Wi-Fi® and mobile phone networks and will automatically present users with the relevant catalog of applications available for their specific BlackBerry smartphone model.