A report from Distimo, the independent application analytics company, has revealed that Blackberry mobile apps cost more on average than apps found in the iTunes App Store or Google’s Android store.  This is in part due to the $2.99 minimum placed on paid apps in Blackberry’s App World, but that in itself renders a debatable point to be made in regards to potential price wars.

Is Blackberry being biased towards its customers by having higher prices and a higher minimum price point for paid mobile applications?  While the Blackberry has been touted for years as the ideal business handheld device, the economic ramifications surrounding the ownership of a Blackberry have reflected such expectations towards its customers.  The same could be said about the iPhone as a device, but Apple’s App Store came out the gate with lower prices and pricing options for developers.

As mobile application stores become more established, the price wars will continue to become an issue.  Similar to the online music industry, mobile applications have a long tail approach and also have the ability to support a large scale marketplace for downloadable and easily replicated digital content.  The expectation is that the price wars for mobile apps will follow suit to some extent.

Any price war amongst the current mobile application stores could mimic what we’ve seen in the music industry, especially as Apple is central to helping set standards for both marketplaces.  That means Apple had a bit of prior experience with this platform model, balancing a marketplace for publishers and consumers.  What we saw with music was a small shift in base costs, and and interesting but still restrictive set of standards by which the content creators and owners could leverage within each given marketplace.

That being said, it is the platform owners that appear to have all the power right now.  To some degree, this is good for developers and consumers as they benefit from such an open approach to their mobile experiences.  For service providers and device makers, the challenges are somewhat increased.  That means that mobile service providers will need to be flexible enough to work cooperatively with the going trend for more open development, and find more ways to interact and generate revenue directly from consumers.

One could argue that several aspects of mobile applications, even those across devices, could be standardized.  Yet that would take away from the capitalistic nature that is bringing about a slew of new opportunities for a great deal of people in the mobile industry.  Despite the blatant pricing difference in mobile apps for Blackberry users, the consumers will ultimately make the decisions regarding the happy medium for any pricing war that occurs.  This will be further evident by the continued development of smart phones, integrated technology, an increase in the device’s standard capabilities and a widening of device options for consumers.