July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd. doubled the programs available online for its BlackBerry phones and will open its Web store to more customers abroad, striving to lure users away from rival models such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

RIM’s App World now has about 2,000 applications, which will be available this month to users in Italy, France, Germany and Spain, Jeff McDowell, vice president of global alliances, said in an interview. RIM also will provide access in countries such as Brazil and India in coming months.

RIM still trails Apple in applications, with less than 5 percent as many. Apple, which released its latest iPhone last month, has more than 50,000, making its device more attractive to consumers, said Needham & Co.’s Charlie Wolf. Apple sold more than 1 million of the newest model, the iPhone 3G S, in the first three days of its June debut.

“RIM is at an increasingly competitive disadvantage,” said the New York-based analyst. “That hasn’t caught up with them yet -- I suspect it will.” He advises buying Apple shares and holding onto RIM stock.

RIM is “very happy” with the volume of application downloads from App World, said McDowell, who declined to disclose the exact figure. Its programs offer enough variety of music, video, and games for customers to compete with Cupertino, California-based Apple, he said.

Broad Range

“I don’t think it matters whether it’s 40,000 or 2,000, you’ve still got a broad range of choice,” McDowell said.

Palm Inc. also introduced the new Pre model last month, intensifying competition with Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM. That company will start selling its Tour model, compatible with networks overseas, through Verizon Wireless in the U.S. next week.

RIM fell $1.04, or 1.5 percent, to $68.67 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has gained 69 percent this year.

RIM opened App World in April to customers in Canada, the U.S. and U.K. with about 1,000 applications, aiming to broaden its appeal to consumers and challenge the iPhone.

Apple, which opened its App Store a year ago, said in April that iPhone and iPod users had downloaded 1 billion applications. The iPhone’s share of global sales of so-called smart phones doubled to 10.8 percent in the first quarter, outpacing RIM’s growth, according to research firm Gartner Inc. RIM boosted its share to 19.9 percent.

Developers are tailoring programs to fit the tastes of overseas customers, with applications devoted to Bollywood films and cricket in India, and soccer in Europe, McDowell said. RIM, with almost 30 million customers worldwide, expects the new programs to help spur growth outside Canada and the U.S., which account for about 70 percent of revenue.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Toronto at hugomiller@bloomberg.net; Crayton Harrison in Mexico City at tharrison5@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 6, 2009 16:04 EDT