Back in February at MWC 2010, Mike Lazaridis introduced the concept of ‘Super Apps‘ representing next-level apps that are fully integrated into core BlackBerry applications such as the inbox, calendar, address book, etc. I must admit, at first when I read about this ‘Super App’ statement, I kind of laughed about it like, “There you go again Mikey L.” Let’s face it, Mike Lazaridis has made his fair share of strange assertions.

After my initial doubt, I really started to think about this ‘Super App’ concept. It really does make sense. There are very few apps out there that take full advantage of the BlackBerry platform. Let’s take ‘Facebook for BlackBerry’ for example. The Facebook app pushes notifications into your Inbox, events into your calendar, adds your friends info & profile picture in your address book entries, and more. You can post to Facebook from your photo albums, emails, etc. This is an example of a ‘Super App’.

I have to tell you, I fully agree with Mike Lazaridis. Being someone who reads up on BlackBerry news daily, I have always been quick to try out new or updated apps and have also been just as quick to dismiss the majority of them. I never knew what to call it before, but I have always been looking for that Super App integration.

RIM is now conscious that the mobile world is now mainly app driven, and has given developers access to their ‘push’ technology and the proper developer tools to push out higher quality apps. Most developers, however, are still not taking full advantage of the internal APIs RIM gives them access to. As frustrating as it is for me, I’m sure it is ten times more frustrating for RIM. RIM is really stepping their game up with BlackBerry 6 and they want app developers to follow their lead.

This week, at WES 2010, the BlackBerry Partners Fund launched their third annual Developer Challenge. This year, the new focus is Super Apps. The stakes have been raised as well as the prizes. This is a great motivational tool to drive developers to be fully conscious of Super App integration, and it is sending out the message not to bother if you are not working on a Super App. Amen! Now that there is a new level of expectation for BlackBerry app developers, I am very excited to see what the future will bring.