RSS
Home
Windows Marketplace threatens iPhone App Store
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
It could be making a huge splash this year.
If you have an iPhone, you are familiar with the iPhone App Store and probably use it quite extensively. Same thing if you use Google’s Android OS.
If you own a Nokia phone like the n97, you are familiar with the Ovi Store that with a little more polish is going to be great.
If you own a Palm Pre, you probably heard yesterday’s news and are getting excited about the possibilities for applications this summer.
And if you own a device powered by Windows Mobile, you have probably been shaking your head about the lack of a centralized place to find applications for your smartphone.
Shake your head no more.
With Windows Mobile 6.5 supposedly being released this year and next year’s release of the highly anticipated Windows Mobile 7.0, the underachieving but very powerful Windows Mobile operating system is going to be getting a big shot in the arm.
Why?
According to Microsoft France’s Windows Mobile product manager, when the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is more than likely concurrently released with Windows Mobile 6.5, it’s going to include a mind-boggling 600 applications for immediate download.
Pre owners, take a deep breath, and cut Palm some slack. They're new at this.
While it isn’t clear what the 600 or so applications will be, it’s a safe bet that they will include a mixture of some old applications as well as new and exciting ones. In comparison, the Apple store began with around 500 applications and within a year, as developers began to program day and night, that number has extended to more than 50,000.
And how does that number compare to the others?
Android features around 5,000 applications. Nokia and BlackBerry hover a little over 1000. And we won’t get into numbers for the Pre.
The fact that the Windows Marketplace is starting with 600 apps or so is a sign that they are committed to both the 6.5 and the 7.0 OS releases, their customers and fans, and raising the bar in the battle for smartphone supremacy.
Catching Apple after that head start will obviously be tough to do.
But let’s play a little devil’s advocate for a second.
If you subscribe to the notion of ‘quality over quantity,’ the fact that they are releasing 600 applications right off the bat might mean while they have strength in numbers at the release, the quality of those 600 applications will be suspect at best.
In response, you could also argue that even though the quality of every single one of those 600 applications might not be five stars, it sure beats Microsoft releasing the Marketplace with only a few options.
This debate will probably go back and forth until both 6.5 and the Windows Marketplace launch sometime later this year.
WinMo already has a great developer community and a library of useful applications but what it has needed for quite some time is the inclusion of a store for applications to be purchased by consumers and showcased by developers.
With this news, Microsoft and potentially Google seem to be the biggest competitors to Apple in the app world, so while they might pose a threat, overtaking them might be wishful thinking.
For more info: Contact Adam: admillios@gmail.com
Related Articles:
Comments
