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T-Mobile To Open App Store For All of Their Phones
tsa brings news that T-Mobile will be developing their own application store to compete with Apple's popular distribution scheme. Their aim is to be capable of bringing new services to all of their customers. Excerpting:
"Developers will submit their applications online; the revenue-share agreement will be based on how much the application uses the network; and the applications will be presented to the user in order of popularity, not according to T-Mobile's preferences. It's all pretty straightforward, but the more interesting aspect is that this will apply to all the carrier's platforms from upcoming Android to Java to Sidekick and Windows Mobile."
Developing for the iPhone is easy. There is only one platform.
But Windows Mobile, Android, and Java are three completely different platforms. That's not to mention platforms based on Brew or Symbian, even. Developing for an individual phone is easy, but to reach the entire market, it's very difficult.
I suppose if you aren't interested in reaching many users, that developing for a single platform like the iPhone is a decent choice. However, if you want to remain viable both in terms of independence and also monetarily, you need to have a broad base of users, not just a small group of fanatics.
Unfortunately, because of the disparity among the various platforms, the difficulty is high to develop a broadly applicable application. So the answer is to target either the least common denominator (there is none in the current phone market) or to target a generic platform that is relatively widely installed.
Welcome to MIDP. Yes, you'll hate every minute of it, but at least it exists.
Cruder (mostly web based) implementations of the iPhones "App Store" already exist with other operators.
I know that Vodafone, for example, distribute an application on their branded S60 Nokia phones that links to a small portal site, where you can read news and buy access to premium content, including TV shows and games.
The application is a small web based one and doesn't have feature the "App Store" has such as the ability to track updates for applications nor does it recognize if you've already made a purchase. I don't recall seeing any significant free applications on their either, almost all the applications were games from major publishers (e.g. branded as EA or Sega titles) and most were consistently priced.
For me, a major strength of the App Store is that it has a wide range of applications at a range of price points and from a range of developers - I think that's what attracts so many people to it.
I think mobile operators will struggle to understand the importance of having a wide range of applications (including free ones) and they will continue to take a short sighted view of focusing on doing business with major publishers like EA at the expense of independent developers - pushing to the market what they mistakenly think people want - ultimately to their own detriment.
So far, I've spent about 25 GBP on the App Store since July I've bought a couple of apps at about 5 GBP, one at about 10 GBP and a few at between 50p to 1.50 GBP. I'm sure I will buy more. I've been with Vodafone for about 8 years, and in that time only bought two applications from them (both games, at around 2.50-4.50 each I think).
I don't think mobile operators understand the importance of good software enough to replicate the success of the App Store on other devices. If good software was important to them there wouldn't have been a gap big enough for Apple to exploit in the first place.
You seem to have a different definition of "many" than I do. iPhone adoption has been huge so far, and not just "a small group of fanatics."
As the Washington Post article mentions, Steve Jobs' stated goal for Apple is 10 million iPhones in 2008. A rather modest goal for an industry that pushes more than a billion units a year. For the first half of the year, Apple has only sold 2.4 million iPhones.
Of course, the spin in this article doesn't stop with iPhone "popularity"... The article is also spinning this as a competition between T-Mobile and Apple. There is no competition. You cannot choose T-mobile's app store over Apple's on your iPhone. Likewise, you cannot shop at Apple's store on a T-Mobile phone. Apple's store is irrelevant to T-Mobile's ambitions. Apple exists in its own little walled garden.
Furthermore, it sounds as if T-Mobile is competing with Nokia's Download Store which, BTW, predates Apple's app store... and iPhone for that matter. Why wasn't the actual competition mentioned? That's where the meat is in this news... Will Nokia be blocked by T-Mobile on their locked handsets? Will the T-Mobile store offer a better deal to S60 developers? Will Nokia withhold signed apps from T-Mobile or fast track the signing process for Nokia Download Store developers?
Nope, no real news in this article. It's just fanboy infotisement. How did it even make front page? News for nerds indeed...