BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is preparing its answer to iPhone's AppStore – the cellphone software download store that Apple CEO Steve Jobs says took $US30 million revenue during August.

The BlackBerry Application Center will be released during November concurrently with RIM's first touchscreen handset, the iPhone-like Storm, due for New Zealand release in November.

Insider leaks suggest the BlackBerry Application Centre will be more buttoned-down than Apple's appstore, being hosted by the Storm carrier (that is, Vodafone in New Zealand, Australia and Europe, and the part Vodafone-owned Verizon in the US). More, AppCenter will only be available to users of the touchscreen Storm.

RIM Australia-New Zealand PR Manager Antoinette Trovato would not confirm or deny AppCenter's rumoured features ahead of Storm's November release.

For more on winds pushing Storm on a collision course with AppStore, and Google's Android, read Keallhauled.