

AT&T and Others Announcing Rival to Apple App Store - waterlesscloud
http://mashable.com/2010/02/14/app-store-alliance/

======
mrshoe
(App Store - iPhone) != App Store

~~~
colonelxc
I know the iPhone app store has been very successful, but I wouldn't
completely discount other ones. What makes the iPhone's app store so great?

Is it the humongous supply of apps? Androlib [1] suggests that the Android
Market is approaching 30K apps. Many of them may be crap, but then again, I
think many of the iPhone ones are too.

Is it the exclusive iPhone only apps? Yes, there are a lot of them
(considering app store sizes alone), but I'm guessing most "popular" apps
exist in both stores. Anecdotal evidence: When my dad got a Droid, he asked me
about all the apps I used on my iPhone. Most of them were on the Android store
too. In the few cases where the apps didn't exist, there was usually a
comparable replacement app from some other app maker. Now that doesn't
necessarily translate to games, but I don't really play many games on my
iPhone (and can't comment on the store differences there).

Now, the Apple App store has been a huge success. If I was a mobile app
developer, I wouldn't hesitate to develop for the iPhone (even being aware of
the sometimes unpredictable approval process). I also don't like the idea of a
network owned app store and the complications and restrictions it will
probably bring, but we'll see what their announcement entails. I just don't
think that Apple's app store is the only viable one, and certainly isn't the
best fit for all people (nothing ever is).

[1] <http://www.androlib.com/appstats.aspx>

~~~
brisance
Human nature is to focus on the negative. Say whatever you want about
draconian App Store policies but Apple does a reasonably good job in promoting
third party apps. They get featured in TV ads, writeups etc. And third party
review sites serve a niche in reviewing and recommending. So an entire
industry forms up around it.

------
pstevensza
Competition is great in any market, but the declaration that this consortium
of followers is creating another app store indicates that everyone is playing
catchup. The other mobile manufacturers have seen the dollar signs and all
want a piece of the pie. Fair game, but Apple will always be Apple, and with
some tweaks to the store, their adherence to a solid framework, gorgeous
hardware and a lovely OS will see them retain their fanbase regardless of what
anyone else comes up.

------
cubicle67
So, um... how the hell is this going to work? This isn't a plan, it's the
combination of NFI and too much scotch (or cognac or whatever these people
drink)

------
xcombinator
I love so much when people "believe" something, test it, doesn't work,the
market fails, and repeat it because they are right.

Apple let's devs to code in low level(Objective C).IMO is the single factor
that makes it so powerful(if you want high level, use web tech). Even Apple
didn't wanted to do it at first, letting other people control the device as
fast as they do.

Now I can't see any real competitors in sight, as an Iphone app store
developer, I would love some competition that "get it".

------
jrockway
What a pain, for both users and developers. New ideas are great and
everything, but it's just a pain to have to support iPhone, Android, WebOS,
Blackberry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Didn't J2ME used to provide a common
API for all platforms? What was the problem with that (other than that all
phones sucked back when that was popular)?

~~~
anicol
J2ME sucks because the API is not always implemented correctly on all the
devices. It seems up to the handset maker to ensure compatibility. It is
certainly not write once, run anywhere...and the API is limited. The GUI
library really sucks, you have to hand roll everything if you want anything
interesting.

------
bruceboughton
I dare them to announce that it's based on Java. So long as Apple isn't
involved then it will an insignificant platform. Even the other app store
clones combined will be tiny compared to Apple's.

