RIM highlighted the importance of its developer community in a quarterly results conference call this week, with Mike Lazaridis, the company’s co-CEO, stating that there are now an average of 4 million downloads per day from BlackBerry App World. He said the store is now available in 129 markets, with operator billing available through 15 networks in 10 countries. It offers a “growing library of more than 40,000 apps.”

Looking forward to the launch of its first BlackBerry smartphones powered by the next-generation BlackBerry platform (QNX), Lazaridis (pictured) said that  “we have learned the importance of ensuring an established vibrant ecosystem is available prior to commercial launch, and our QNX smartphones application environment development and final industrial design will be released into the market based on this experience.”

Lazaridis said that the development platform for QNX-based smartphones will be presented in more detail at RIM’s DevCon event next month, and that “prototype phones, featuring the QNX operating system and development platform, will be available in the not too distant future.”

The executive said that “we recognise that the current availability of content and applications for the PlayBook [tablet] has limited the near-term uptake of the device in the market.” In order to address this, RIM is “actively working with key partners” to offer the “most desired applications and content” for its target markets. This includes work with games companies such as Unity, Ideaworks Labs and EA to develop apps for QNX.

It was noted that, during the period, RIM launched the latest version of its app store, App World 3.0, which offers enhanced merchandising and discovery capabilities, and adds an operator-branded channel for its partners.

Lazaridis also said that more than 13 million downloads have taken place of apps including BBM connectivity, enabling users to access features of the BBM messaging service from within an app. Developers supporting this include Poynt, Foursquare and Jingu.

RIM is set to offer an update for the PlayBook tablet in the near future, which will include the availability of an anticipated Android app player for the device.