Competition For the App Store Is Mounting

MojoKid writes "Right now the only real 'competition' to Apple's App Store is the Android Market. Presently, anyone using an Android-based phone can download applications from the Android Market, which first started offering free applications in October '08. A drawback to Android application developers, however, is the fact that the potential Android Market user base is fairly small right now, as there is presently only one Android phone available, the T-Mobile G1. However, in the coming months we're also going to see more app stores come online for additional smartphone platforms. Nokia will officially launch an app store for its Symbian OS-based smartphones at Mobile World Congress on Monday. Microsoft is also getting in the game for smartphones that run the Windows Mobile OS, with Steve Ballmer delivering the keynote speech at Mobile World Congress as well."

Comments

Third-party app stores are coming, too!

[radimvice]

The company I work for launched a public beta of our third-party app store this week, called Xpressed (the site is brand new, so feedback is welcome). Unlike the app stores mentioned in this article, it's a true "third-party" app store meaning that we're unaffiliated with any device manufacturer or carrier, and so we plan to support any and all phones out on the market that allow applications to be downloaded and installed from non-proprietary websites. Right now this pretty much means most of the Java-based phones on the market (several hundred current phones, plus the hundreds more old and obsolete devices).

It will be interesting to see which model wins out after all of the industry players have their say in this growing application space - whether manufacturer-supported app stores (presumably) integrated with the devices themselves will continue to dominate, or whether third-party app stores like Xpressed will be able to find a footing, especially among developers targeting their apps across multiple platforms.

Re:Third-party app stores are coming, too!

[Animaether]

Although I would say that your 'app store' isn't so much an 'app store' as a 'game store', I think my biggest beef with all of the 'app stores' out there is that they already existed in one form or another.

One of the biggest sites for mobile downloads, for example, is Handango. It carries utilities, tools, games, etc. for all of the open platforms (e.g. no iPhone, obviously).

So the availability has never been a problem, and opening a new 'app store' that does much the same isn't going to make things much better.
( I will say, though, that judging by the flashy banners, you guys are at least offering a little extra (e.g. the subscription plan and the app that will let users keep an eye on apps from their own mobile device )

The reason the Apple app store is as successful as it is, is because you can manage everything from that single site - browsing, buying, downloading, installing. Once installed, it's also guaranteed to *work* on your mobile device; yes, I know, that's rather easy since there only really is 1 'device', but if you keep in mind how many of the apps for, say, Windows Mobile come in at least 2 different flavors just to deal with square display vs 4:3 display devices, not to mention the resolution separation, then a user easily gets lost.

Thankfully, you were smart enough to add a filter-by-phone so that only compatible games are listed... but then you have to make absolutely sure you get (or collect) the correct information and you have to keep up-to-date on all of the different phone models out there... that's nearly a day-job for one of your staff.

Anyway - good luck with the site, it looks polished (I'm not a big fan of the animated bits, but I know your target audience is), the featureset and what-does-it-offer-extra-over-other-sites looks pretty good (for those who missed it - click on a game, there's a good chance you can play it on-line for 10 minutes so you can decide whether or not it's something you'd like to actually buy... that's brilliant), it's a bit slow to navigate at the moment but that might just be other slashdotters eating your bandwidth a bit.

Not because there's only 1

[beelsebob]

A drawback to Android application developers, however, is the fact that the potential Android Market user base is fairly small right now, as there is presently only one Android phone available, the T-Mobile G1.
No, there's only one iPhone too... the drawback is that no one wants a G1, because it's a cheep plasticy lump of crap.

Re:Not because there's only 1

[ivucica]

I for one extremely dislike virtual keyboards. It's quite clumsy to type on them, unless you have a stylus, and even then I'd prefer Graffiti. I don't mean Graffiti-like method, I mean Graffiti; both Graffiti2 from Palm and Letter Recognizer from MS are bad. Transcriber may be interesting ... if I only wanted to enter English text. In full. All the time.

I use acronyms, I use Croatian language, I use programming language keywords and variable names. I don't enter plain English text.

Graffiti is the best entry method to date, seconded by physical keyboards of any format.

Re:Not because there's only 1

[smilindog2000]

I've had an iPhone, and currently own a T-Mobile G1. In short, Android is a solid competitor (the only competitor IMO) to the iPhone OS. The actual G1 phone however, sucks big time, as GP suggests, though he didn't get close as to why:

- The speaker slot gets clogged with lint, and now I have trouble hearing the phone
- While the camera has auto-focus and more pixels than iPhone, HTC screwed up with a crappy lens that ruins all photos
- There's no headphone jack. Instead, HTC provides crappy headphones using a non-standard extension to the micro-USB jack
- The phone is too thick, and not nearly as sleek or well designed or packaged as the iPhone
- The battery is tiny in comparison to the iPhone.

Basically, some US company (Qualcom? T-Mobile?) must have said "Here's the specs for you, HTC", and then HTC delivered on the specs, but screwed up the phone.

While there are fewer users of the G1, there are proportionally fewer developers. Many of the best application spaces are already dominated on iPhone, while they're still open on Android. I believe that future Android phones will gain in market share vs iPhone, making development for Android a wise choice.

Re:Not because there's only 1

[blind biker]

I for one extremely dislike virtual keyboards. It's quite clumsy to type on them, unless you have a stylus, and even then I'd prefer Graffiti.

Not to mention that they are impossible to use by blind people, and hard to use by visually-impaired people.

Sure, I know Slashdot readers don't give a fuck about the needs of impaired people - but it's a minority that has otherwise great potential. I'd love to see manufacturers targeting specifically blind and visually-impaired people as part of their strategy.

Re:Not because there's only 1

[Rutefoot]

Blind and visually impaired people are a small fraction of the population. There is a much larger market being neglected with many touch screen systems.

People who don't live in sunny California who have to wear gloves for part of the year. It's actually been the deciding factor around our Toronto office when coworkers have been picking their new smart phone. Most have been opting for non-touch screen phones, or the Blackberry Storm. The inability to use the iPhone without hassle while you're on the go has ruined its chances of entering the business market.

Re:Not because there's only 1

[lunartik]

I have a G1 and an iPod touch. If I am somewhere with wifi I find myself using the iPod to surf the net or check email. I thought I would prefer the G1 for the keyboard, but I don't think it's interface is that great, the apps I get are either buggy, not very useful or not very well done and it seems to hang a lot.

Malware sites

[Macrat]

And how long before the malware stores pop up for the unsuspecting?

That's at least one benefit to a manufacturer run app store.

RIM has its own App Store, too

[javipas]

The company announced some months ago its own version of the App Store for BlackBerry, the BlackBerry Application StoreFront

Re:Call me...

[migla]

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianOnFreeRunner

Is it?

[dancingmad]

I don't really have a dog in this fight - my brother owns an iPod Touch and I have a Blackberry Curve - but it doesn't seem to me that there's much competition on any front for Apple's App Store. For most of the smart phones I wouldn't even consider buying software (I don't think my Curve delivers an experience that I want - I would rather use other portable devices to do what software could do).

The one thing that may be able to mount a challenge is the DSi's app store - but here in Japan where the DSi is already out, I am not really getting the impression that it is a must have feature.

Until someone is even mildly successful in the area, no one competition is really "mounting" for the app store.

Re:Just give it up...

[alsutton]

"Outside the US, it it just a matter of time before Symbian and other platforms join PalmOS as interesting historical tidbits."

Ever seen some sales figures? Symbian currently is the OS on around 50% of all 'phones sold (and 40% of all smart phones) around the world. Thats more than the nearest 4 competitors combined (and that includes apple).

The US market is very limited and isolated in some senses because US patent laws restrict what can be sold in the US. In the free world we have the ability to buy 'phones which offer equivalent functionality and not pick 'phones based on who has the most patents.

Re:Nokia will officially launch an app store..

[mvdwege]

Apparently you have never used an S60 phone. It already has the basic mechanisms in place in the download section in the main menu. All Nokia has to do is market the server side to developers.

Mart

I've just ditched my 3rd Windows Mobile

[footnmouth]

Over the last 10 years I've had 3 different versions of Windows Mobile and every time initial "shinyness" has worn off very quickly to be replaced by annoyance at stupid, stupid user experience mistakes.

The worst of these is Windows constant delivery of messages to the user. On a desktop the "you have unused desktop icons" bubble is annoying - on a Windows mobile device, a bubble that takes the user focus away from, say

• typing an SMS
• typing a number
• typing a note
• accepting a call

is a serious barrier to usage.

The other thing that finally caused me to switch to a Crackberry (which is fantastic) was that it would crash on receiving a call occasionally - brilliant. It was the HTC Tytan if anybody cares.