Amazon, Apple, LG launch new app stores, Google Chrome Web Store dries up
As Apple prepares to bring its wildly successful App Store phenomenon from iOS to the Mac, Amazon is launching its own Android app store while LG and others open TV apps stores, even as existing ones, including the Chrome Web Store, flounder.
It's been nearly three years since Apple opened its original iPhone App Store to resounding success. Since then, the company has constantly refined its App Store policies and practices in anticipation or reaction of users' and developers' expectations, expanding to include iPad apps last year, and tomorrow extending to Mac apps.
Every other smartphone platform has worked diligently to copy Apple's success, in many cases radically revamping their existing stores to pattern them after Apple's. Nokia's Ovi market for Symbian devices, BlackBerry's App World, and Google's Android Market have worked hard to copy the App Store, but without nearly as much success.
Palm and Microsoft were both induced to scuttle their existing mobile platforms and create entirely new ones with app stores closely modeled after Apple's, the Palm webOS and new Windows Phone 7 app stores), while new platforms, including Samsung's Bada, have similarly opened new mobile software markets.
Attracting enough attention from both developers and users to all of these new stores is difficult. While every store offers the basics like Twitter and Facebook and a handful of the most popular games, in order to stand out, new app stores need to deliver fresh apps on a regular basis. Doing this at the same rate as Apple is proving to be a tremendous challenge for vendors of new and revamped mobile platforms.
An Amazon app store for Android
One of the biggest problems for Google's Android platform is that there's no great app store; there are several options, with Google's own Android Market being the most prominent.
However, developers--including DoubleTwist, which serves as Android's biggest supporter in terms of making Android apps easy to use and buy--are critical of Google's hands off approach, noting that Android Market is overrun with intellectual property ripoffs and fake junk posing as legitimate apps. Malware is also a problem, not just for the official store but also for alternative Android apps stores.
Amazon hopes to solve this problem by taking over Google's role as the main retailer of Android's apps. The company's new Amazon app market, scheduled to open sometime "later this year," will attempt to be closer to Apple's App Store experience, offering a curated experience that hopes to prevent the Android catalog from being lost in a sea of knockoff junkware.
Amazon's fire sale policy
Amazon's retail prowess certainly positions it as one of the best hopes for a good Android app store. However, Android is adding some of its own quirks into its new store model. That includes reserving the right to deeply discount developer's titles at its own whim, part of Amazon's developer agreement in sections 5.g and 5.i.
The company will allow developers to set a list price, which Amazon will then slash as it deems necessary to drive sales. As with Apple's App Store, Amazon's developers will get a similar 70 percent share of the proceeds, although in Amazon's store, those proceeds may only amount to 20 percent of the list price if Amazon chooses to put their apps in its bargain bin. Apple allows developers to set and change their own app prices as they wish.
Amazon's "we will price your apps" approach may drive sales volumes, but it also opens up a new can of worms for some developers. While neither Google nor Amazon demand that the apps they carry be exclusive to their app stores, Amazon's developer agreement section 3.a stipulates that developers must make available to Amazon all the apps they sell on any other market (including Google's Android Market or third party market).
However, other markets stipulate that developers can't list their apps on other stores for cheaper. Because Amazon is taking price control and store listing choice away from developers, they're now stuck in a conundrum of being unable to sell their apps across multiple stores without running afoul of the rules of each.
On page 2 of 3: Google welcomes Android competition, Software theft and ad business model collapse
Google welcomes Android competition
Google seems to be welcoming of the expansion of Android app stores, as Google's business model for Android is dependent upon search and ad revenues rather than app sales. In a comment published by TechCrunch, Google stated, "Android is an open platform ? and entities other than Google are free to create their own content and marketplaces, much like the web."
However, if Google cedes app store control to a third party like Amazon, particularly a retailer who benefits from app sales rather than supporting Google's ad-supported model, its interest in Android could wane as developers primarily seek to sell ad-free apps in the model of Apple's App Store, leaving Google with increasingly less ad revenue.
Google has promoted ad-supported apps in its Android Market to the point where Angry Birds developer Rovio described the practice as "the Google Way," and has subsequently only offered an ad-supported version of its popular game for Android.
Software theft and ad business model collapse
With a retailer like Amazon in the picture, Rovio might consider selling titles like Angry Birds for sale, if Amazon's apps are distributed with sufficient DRM to prevent widespread theft; if they aren't, the availability of non-ad supported, but easy to pirate, Android apps from Amazon may destroy Android's already weak software market.
Even worse, if Microsoft, Yahoo and other search providers effectively replace Google search on Android through apps sold by other retailers like Amazon, Google will find itself maintaining a platform it benefits very little from.
Amazon's entry into the Android app sales business joins Verizon and other carriers, who are already selling Android apps. With the freedom to buy apps from multiple places, Android users will also gain some complication in how apps are updated and installed. To use the Amazon store, users will need to configure some settings and load a special app that facilities app installation. After buying apps from multiple sources, users will also need to manage updates through each of those different stores.
How will the Mac App Store work out?
That's closer to Apple's new Mac App Store, which unlike its iOS equivalent, isn't going to be the only way to obtain Mac apps. In fact, Amazon may eventually begin selling Mac apps within its own store alongside Android, much as it has entered into the ebooks market, selling titles in parallel with Apple's iBooks and Google's new Books market.
That has the potential to bring the same concerns about widespread unauthorized copying of software from Android to Mac software, quenching developers' financial interests in supporting those platforms. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform recently had its DRM system cracked, resulting in making it as easy to obtain new apps without paying for them as it is on Android, and subsequently similarly weakening the ability of developers to justify investment in the platform.
On page 3 of 3: Thinking outside the smartphone If we build it, will they come?
Thinking outside the smartphone
In addition to Android apps, third parties are also announcing new app stores for their other devices. Samsung already operates an app store for its own new Bada platform, and also supports Java and Windows Mobile phones, as well as Android models. It doesn't appear to have a functional store for all the smartphone platforms it sells yet, but that hasn't stopped it from expanding to other devices. The company already supports apps on some models of TVs, Blu-Ray players and home theater products it sells.
LG has also thrown its hat into the ring at this year's CES, offering TV and Blu-Ray player apps of its own along with a new set top box called the Smart TV Upgrader, an HDMI connected box that runs video service apps such as Vudu, CinemaNow and Netflix along with games and web-access apps.
LG's new Upgrader competes in a sense against Apple TV, although Apple still hasn't revealed App Store support for its new iOS-based TV box. Instead, Apple has only bundled built-in support for a limited number of third party services, including Netflix and Flickr, next to its own iTunes TV and movie rentals, podcasts, music and Mobile Me photo and video sharing features.
If we build it, will they come?
Simply opening a storefront of some kind, even one patterned after Apple's successful iTunes model, isn't guaranteed to result in success. Google launched its Chrome Web Store last month for web-based apps that can run within the company's own browser or on its forthcoming Chrome OS, which is intended to power a new range of netbooks and other thin client devices later this summer. The new store is closely modeled after the look and layout of Apple's iTunes (below).
However, a report by TechCrunch notes that "unfortunately, as far as we can tell, nobody is really buying anything on it." The site pointed out that some titles are only seeing a half dozen downloads a week, and "few of the other applications in the list are doing better, but even those are still showing lackluster sales."
The report concluded, "one thing is clear: Google has a long way to go with the Web Store. It?s still impossible to distinguish applications that are basically just bookmarks from those that are full-fledged web apps. And while the purchase flow itself is pretty simple (you can buy something in a couple clicks, assuming you already have a Google Checkout account), I think Google will have to put some work into educating people on what exactly they?re paying for."
Apple has similarly seen only marginal interest in its free Safari Extensions program, but the company didn't position the browser extension site as a store, and has done little to promote it. Safari's Extensions, like Google's Chrome Web Apps, are also segregated away into the browser itself, rather than being connected to the companies' online app stores.
Apple's Mac App Store, which opens tomorrow, is similarly a standalone app, although Apple will apparently be distributing it as a software update along with an updated build of Mac OS X 10.6.6.
It's been nearly three years since Apple opened its original iPhone App Store to resounding success. Since then, the company has constantly refined its App Store policies and practices in anticipation or reaction of users' and developers' expectations, expanding to include iPad apps last year, and tomorrow extending to Mac apps.
Every other smartphone platform has worked diligently to copy Apple's success, in many cases radically revamping their existing stores to pattern them after Apple's. Nokia's Ovi market for Symbian devices, BlackBerry's App World, and Google's Android Market have worked hard to copy the App Store, but without nearly as much success.
Palm and Microsoft were both induced to scuttle their existing mobile platforms and create entirely new ones with app stores closely modeled after Apple's, the Palm webOS and new Windows Phone 7 app stores), while new platforms, including Samsung's Bada, have similarly opened new mobile software markets.
Attracting enough attention from both developers and users to all of these new stores is difficult. While every store offers the basics like Twitter and Facebook and a handful of the most popular games, in order to stand out, new app stores need to deliver fresh apps on a regular basis. Doing this at the same rate as Apple is proving to be a tremendous challenge for vendors of new and revamped mobile platforms.
An Amazon app store for Android
One of the biggest problems for Google's Android platform is that there's no great app store; there are several options, with Google's own Android Market being the most prominent.
However, developers--including DoubleTwist, which serves as Android's biggest supporter in terms of making Android apps easy to use and buy--are critical of Google's hands off approach, noting that Android Market is overrun with intellectual property ripoffs and fake junk posing as legitimate apps. Malware is also a problem, not just for the official store but also for alternative Android apps stores.
Amazon hopes to solve this problem by taking over Google's role as the main retailer of Android's apps. The company's new Amazon app market, scheduled to open sometime "later this year," will attempt to be closer to Apple's App Store experience, offering a curated experience that hopes to prevent the Android catalog from being lost in a sea of knockoff junkware.
Amazon's fire sale policy
Amazon's retail prowess certainly positions it as one of the best hopes for a good Android app store. However, Android is adding some of its own quirks into its new store model. That includes reserving the right to deeply discount developer's titles at its own whim, part of Amazon's developer agreement in sections 5.g and 5.i.
The company will allow developers to set a list price, which Amazon will then slash as it deems necessary to drive sales. As with Apple's App Store, Amazon's developers will get a similar 70 percent share of the proceeds, although in Amazon's store, those proceeds may only amount to 20 percent of the list price if Amazon chooses to put their apps in its bargain bin. Apple allows developers to set and change their own app prices as they wish.
Amazon's "we will price your apps" approach may drive sales volumes, but it also opens up a new can of worms for some developers. While neither Google nor Amazon demand that the apps they carry be exclusive to their app stores, Amazon's developer agreement section 3.a stipulates that developers must make available to Amazon all the apps they sell on any other market (including Google's Android Market or third party market).
However, other markets stipulate that developers can't list their apps on other stores for cheaper. Because Amazon is taking price control and store listing choice away from developers, they're now stuck in a conundrum of being unable to sell their apps across multiple stores without running afoul of the rules of each.
On page 2 of 3: Google welcomes Android competition, Software theft and ad business model collapse
Google welcomes Android competition
Google seems to be welcoming of the expansion of Android app stores, as Google's business model for Android is dependent upon search and ad revenues rather than app sales. In a comment published by TechCrunch, Google stated, "Android is an open platform ? and entities other than Google are free to create their own content and marketplaces, much like the web."
However, if Google cedes app store control to a third party like Amazon, particularly a retailer who benefits from app sales rather than supporting Google's ad-supported model, its interest in Android could wane as developers primarily seek to sell ad-free apps in the model of Apple's App Store, leaving Google with increasingly less ad revenue.
Google has promoted ad-supported apps in its Android Market to the point where Angry Birds developer Rovio described the practice as "the Google Way," and has subsequently only offered an ad-supported version of its popular game for Android.
Software theft and ad business model collapse
With a retailer like Amazon in the picture, Rovio might consider selling titles like Angry Birds for sale, if Amazon's apps are distributed with sufficient DRM to prevent widespread theft; if they aren't, the availability of non-ad supported, but easy to pirate, Android apps from Amazon may destroy Android's already weak software market.
Even worse, if Microsoft, Yahoo and other search providers effectively replace Google search on Android through apps sold by other retailers like Amazon, Google will find itself maintaining a platform it benefits very little from.
Amazon's entry into the Android app sales business joins Verizon and other carriers, who are already selling Android apps. With the freedom to buy apps from multiple places, Android users will also gain some complication in how apps are updated and installed. To use the Amazon store, users will need to configure some settings and load a special app that facilities app installation. After buying apps from multiple sources, users will also need to manage updates through each of those different stores.
How will the Mac App Store work out?
That's closer to Apple's new Mac App Store, which unlike its iOS equivalent, isn't going to be the only way to obtain Mac apps. In fact, Amazon may eventually begin selling Mac apps within its own store alongside Android, much as it has entered into the ebooks market, selling titles in parallel with Apple's iBooks and Google's new Books market.
That has the potential to bring the same concerns about widespread unauthorized copying of software from Android to Mac software, quenching developers' financial interests in supporting those platforms. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform recently had its DRM system cracked, resulting in making it as easy to obtain new apps without paying for them as it is on Android, and subsequently similarly weakening the ability of developers to justify investment in the platform.
On page 3 of 3: Thinking outside the smartphone If we build it, will they come?
Thinking outside the smartphone
In addition to Android apps, third parties are also announcing new app stores for their other devices. Samsung already operates an app store for its own new Bada platform, and also supports Java and Windows Mobile phones, as well as Android models. It doesn't appear to have a functional store for all the smartphone platforms it sells yet, but that hasn't stopped it from expanding to other devices. The company already supports apps on some models of TVs, Blu-Ray players and home theater products it sells.
LG has also thrown its hat into the ring at this year's CES, offering TV and Blu-Ray player apps of its own along with a new set top box called the Smart TV Upgrader, an HDMI connected box that runs video service apps such as Vudu, CinemaNow and Netflix along with games and web-access apps.
LG's new Upgrader competes in a sense against Apple TV, although Apple still hasn't revealed App Store support for its new iOS-based TV box. Instead, Apple has only bundled built-in support for a limited number of third party services, including Netflix and Flickr, next to its own iTunes TV and movie rentals, podcasts, music and Mobile Me photo and video sharing features.
If we build it, will they come?
Simply opening a storefront of some kind, even one patterned after Apple's successful iTunes model, isn't guaranteed to result in success. Google launched its Chrome Web Store last month for web-based apps that can run within the company's own browser or on its forthcoming Chrome OS, which is intended to power a new range of netbooks and other thin client devices later this summer. The new store is closely modeled after the look and layout of Apple's iTunes (below).
However, a report by TechCrunch notes that "unfortunately, as far as we can tell, nobody is really buying anything on it." The site pointed out that some titles are only seeing a half dozen downloads a week, and "few of the other applications in the list are doing better, but even those are still showing lackluster sales."
The report concluded, "one thing is clear: Google has a long way to go with the Web Store. It?s still impossible to distinguish applications that are basically just bookmarks from those that are full-fledged web apps. And while the purchase flow itself is pretty simple (you can buy something in a couple clicks, assuming you already have a Google Checkout account), I think Google will have to put some work into educating people on what exactly they?re paying for."
Apple has similarly seen only marginal interest in its free Safari Extensions program, but the company didn't position the browser extension site as a store, and has done little to promote it. Safari's Extensions, like Google's Chrome Web Apps, are also segregated away into the browser itself, rather than being connected to the companies' online app stores.
Apple's Mac App Store, which opens tomorrow, is similarly a standalone app, although Apple will apparently be distributing it as a software update along with an updated build of Mac OS X 10.6.6.
Comments
Of course the author of this post needs to make an excuse as to why the Safari Extension Gallery hasn't been popular. Yet he slams the other ones. It's true that it hasn't, but it's such a double standard.
Why would you making an erroneous comparison be funny? Apple isn't trying to push the extension gallery in the same way it pushes the app store. On the other hand Google Chrome depends on their extension gallery being a success. It's 'Apples and Googles' to bend a well known saying. Should I laugh now?
p.s. Any developer out there working on an instant Troll blocker extension yet?
I like the LG TV apps. Can we expect an AppleTV App Store and SDK to be demoed later this year? I sure hope so.
You have to believe ATV apps are coming. Not heard anything though regarding developer SDK yet, you'd think that would be here now or close. I assume any iOS or OS X product could be a control device for such apps. Any thoughts on that aspect?
However, developers--including DoubleTwist, which serves as Android's biggest supporter in terms of making Android apps easy to use and buy--are critical of Google's hands off approach, noting that Android Market is overrun with intellectual property ripoffs and fake junk posing as legitimate apps. Malware is also a problem, not just for the official store but also for alternative Android apps stores.
The whiners, critics, phandroids, and <insert troll members here> have all ripped on Apple for trying to "control" what goes into the app store.
This is exactly what happens when no one is watching the store. As far as I'm concerned, those folks got what they asked for. I say leave the Android marketplace as the giant pile of steaming droppings it is and continue on with a cleaner, more effective Apple app store.
Reminds me of a scene from "Robocop" when the police force goes on strike and the entire city goes to ruins.
And I agree that all the other players will find it difficult to replicate Apples success for the reasons stated.
However I had to laugh at the line
"In fact, Amazon may eventually begin selling Mac apps within its own store alongside Android, much as it has entered into the ebooks market, selling titles in parallel with Apple's iBooks and Google's new Books market."
I know what he meant but it makes it sound as though Amazon only got into selling eBooks after Apple and Google started doing it.
The whiners, critics, phandroids, and <insert troll members here> have all ripped on Apple for trying to "control" what goes into the app store.
This is exactly what happens when no one is watching the store. As far as I'm concerned, those folks got what they asked for. I say leave the Android marketplace as the giant pile of steaming droppings it is and continue on with a cleaner, more effective Apple app store.
Reminds me of a scene from "Robocop" when the police force goes on strike and the entire city goes to ruins.
Exactly right. The only ones whining I suspect are the ones either wanting to do nefarious things or are simply jealous of the success of Apple for some strange reason and will say anything negative they can about anything related to Apple.
I knew it would be a DED article just by the title. Which is always a must read.
And I agree that all the other players will find it difficult to replicate Apples success for the reasons stated.
However I had to laugh at the line
I know what he meant but it makes it sound as though Amazon only got into selling eBooks after Apple and Google started doing it.
I wish Mac addresses could be used to spot those with multiple accounts. Just saying ...
You have to believe ATV apps are coming. Not heard anything though regarding developer SDK yet, you'd think that would be here now or close. I assume any iOS or OS X product could be a control device for such apps. Any thoughts on that aspect?
Here is my basic outline of what this could offer Apple by leveraging their strengths:
I wish Mac addresses could be used to spot those with multiple accounts. Just saying ...
MAC addresses are not broadcast in the http protocol. The moderators can see IP addresses shared by multiple users although not a foolproof way to identify a single person with multiple accounts. Of course having multiple accounts is not against the rules until one of them gets banned.
If the moderators get complaints about a certain user they may make an effort to identify the other accounts and if the attitude and writing style are similar enough to a previously banned user on the same IP, they probably would take the appropriate action.
p.s. Any developer out there working on an instant Troll blocker extension yet?
It makes me a troll because I'm pointing out something that the author shouldn't have written? That's AppleInsider for you. Blinded by double standards. I bet you call everyone who doesn't agree with you a troll.
It was entertaining though and you did get my click, that's the most important thing!
Of course the author of this post needs to make an excuse as to why the Safari Extension Gallery hasn't been popular. Yet he slams the other ones. It's true that it hasn't been advertised, but neither have the other ones! It's such a double standard.
I don't know about you but this is a damn nice list of extensions:
http://extensions.apple.com/
Not to mention the presentation of them is professional versus juvenile and a waste of space coming from Google.
I don't know about you but this is a damn nice list of extensions:
http://extensions.apple.com/
Not to mention the presentation of them is professional versus juvenile and a waste of space coming from Google.
I actually really like the extension gallery. It's easy to use and easy to remove anything you don't want. What bothers me is that the author makes an excuse of why it's not "popular" for Apple, but trash the others.
The whiners, critics, phandroids, and <insert troll members here> have all ripped on Apple for trying to "control" what goes into the app store.
This is exactly what happens when no one is watching the store. As far as I'm concerned, those folks got what they asked for. I say leave the Android marketplace as the giant pile of steaming droppings it is and continue on with a cleaner, more effective Apple app store.
Reminds me of a scene from "Robocop" when the police force goes on strike and the entire city goes to ruins.
Mmmm... Maybe the Apple iTunes app store should sell Android, WP7 and others' apps -- Apple certainly has the infrastructure in place to do this successfully.
Hey, make the iTMS (iTunes Media Store) the one-stop-shopping place for all your content -- including smart phone, tablet and computer apps.
I knew it would be a DED article just by the title.
Sadly, yes! Just had to have that DedDig at Google.
That might be due to the fact that there are currently no consumer-level/obtainable devices running the Chrome OS until "later this summer".
"However, a report by TechCrunch notes that "unfortunately, as far as we can tell, nobody is really buying anything on it." The site pointed out that some titles are only seeing a half dozen downloads a week, and "few of the other applications in the list are doing better, but even those are still showing lackluster sales."
That might be due to the fact that there are currently no consumer-level/obtainable devices running the Chrome OS until "later this summer".
Not exactly. Chrome as a browser will let you buy "Apps" if I am not mistaken, meaning all three major platforms can have a potential buyer.
I think the problem is in the mindset of the internet user population. How many of us pay a website to view their services? Imagine if we had to pay Facebook to use their site, the uproar! Don't even start to mention Net-Neutrality! There are those who do pay individual sites, but most use the internet (pay our ISPs for the privilege) to use free services and web sites. The fact that most Chrome Web"Apps" are merely bookmarks, makes it a hard sell to those who see the internet as a "Pay to get online, the rest is free."
In contrast, the Mac App Store will be a downloaded program versus a web hosted page or web app. Its the mentality around it in my opinion. Therefore, I think its comparing Apples to Oranges.
The whiners, critics, phandroids, and <insert troll members here> have all ripped on Apple for trying to "control" what goes into the app store.
This is exactly what happens when no one is watching the store. As far as I'm concerned, those folks got what they asked for. I say leave the Android marketplace as the giant pile of steaming droppings it is and continue on with a cleaner, more effective Apple app store.
Reminds me of a scene from "Robocop" when the police force goes on strike and the entire city goes to ruins.
I think what they are ripping about is the rejection of products that offer a similar feature or service that already exists through apple or through the censorship of a product like lets say adult entertainment. These are not products that violate IP, or are malware products, or "fake apps".