Smartphone maker Research in Motion follows Apple and Google in creating a mobile application storefront and smoothing the way for third-party developers.

Research in Motion is following the leads of Apple and Android in creating an application storefront for its BlackBerry device, in a bid to make it simpler and more enticing for developers to create and sell their own apps for the mobile devices.

The new BlackBerry store front, announced during RIM’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) first-ever developer conference, won’t make its official debut until March. However, the company plans to begin accepting applications in December and said it is working with PayPal to build a payment system for the store.

BlackBerry developers will set their own application fees and retain 80 percent of revenue, RIM said. In addition, the handset maker said in a release that it is working with its mobile carrier partners to create customized, on-device application centers for their subscribers.

“We see it as the entrance to an easy path to getting applications to market,” Lazaridis said, adding the Web is “the ramp and low-cost way to bring new applications to the BlackBerry platform.”