The battle of the app stores

Do any of the other mobile application stores stand a chance against the behemoth that is Apple's App Store?

By Clare Hopping, 19 Aug 2009 at 15:53

A year ago, smartphone applications were limited to CRM apps on BlackBerry and document editors for Windows Mobile. The Apple App Store has quite simply revolutionised smartphones, but who else has a chance when it comes to third party apps on mobile?

The Apple App Store popped up providing a whole new way of purchasing apps and getting them on your phone. Then other smartphone manufacturers all began jumping on the wagon, starting with App World from BlackBerry and Android Market for Google’s smartphone platform.

The rest of the year shows even more promise, with Windows Mobile launching its marketplace with the introduction of Windows Mobile 6.5, while Palm is planning its own Palm Catalog with the launch of the Palm Pre.

So with all these on offer, which store is king of the castle?

Apple App Store

The Apple App Store was the original and is arguably the best place to buy such applications on the net. It holds more apps than any other store. It also has the most regulation and there have been a recent spate of apps declined by the bigwigs at Apple.

Although the gaming section is the most popular here because of the iPhone’s supreme gaming abilities, utilities come up a close second, with the store filled to the brim with handy apps to help with your day-to-day working tasks.

Expect to find apps that can remotely monitor your computer’s performance in real time such as iStat, third party web browsers including Privately and Full Page Web Browser and virtual keyboards – our favourite is Air Mouse Pro.

Business and productivity apps are also second to-none, with word processing, spreadsheet readers and organisation applications all on-board.

The App Store also features the most apps compared to any other store, currently standing at around 50,000.

The interface is easy as pie to use, with the ability to find apps through browsing across the categories or searching. When you tap to download an app, you’ll have to sign into your iTunes account and then they’ll download to your iPhone, automatically synching to your computer when you plug your phone in using the USB.

Android Market

Unlike the Apple App Store, Android Market is more open source, as Google doesn't prevent conflicting apps from slipping through.

This means that there’s a much larger range of applications, even though there are far fewer in number.

For example, Apple blocked Google Voice from the App Store with the excuse that it clashed too much with the functionality of the built-in Voice Memos application pre-installed on the iPhone, yet you can download it on Android Market.

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VNC (remote) functionality on the iPhone

The iPhone also has some applications that achieve VNC functionality, bringing the desktop view of a computer onto the iPhone device. Remote Jr (www.remotejr.com) is one of these and my personal favorite - it actually allows you to remotely control a computer (be it Windows or Mac) using an iPhone using WiFi, 3G or EDGE connectivity. It allows you to pinch and zoom the constantly updated remote view, search files with integrated Spotlight, application launching and switching, typing, clicking, tapping, taking screenshots etc. Honestly, I feel like RIM and other mobile platforms have a long way to go before they can run an app like that. The fact that Remote Jr works on both Windows and Mac not only goes to show developer dedication, but also the robustness of the iPhone platform. The iTunes App Store is indeed a jungle of apps, but their much debated approval process only slows down what could otherwise be an uncontrollable flow of apps into the store, risking flawed applications and overall drop of product quality.

By erlingormar on Thursday Aug 20

The "Other" app store...

Sadly, the article seems to omit the world’s 2nd largest app store: GetJar Some interesting statistics for readers of IT PRO: Founded: 2005 Total downloads to date: 550 million (2nd behind Apple) with an average 1.7 million every day from www.getjar.com and m.getjar.com Content Library: 52,000 applications and mobile sites covering 1,600 different devices. All applications on GetJar are free to consumers. Distribution: Global reach with downloads coming from over 200 different markets and 15 million consumers every month. Partners: Sony Ericsson, 3 UK, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone among others offer applications to their consumers using GetJar. Status: Private and backed by blue-chip investors Accel Partners (the same VC’s behind Facebook). GetJar is the only app store of this list that is truly open and independent. By independent we mean that GetJar isn’t affiliated with any other platform owner or handset manufacturer. By “Open” we mean that consumers can find content for any handset on any platform regardless of whether it’s Java, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm or even Iphone (GetJar actually re-directs iPhone users to iTunes once they’ve selected there apps). Unlike some App stores that restrict certain content because it might conflict with their own agreements with carriers or their own music / map services, GetJar allows developers to place any content they like as long is it meets certain basic editorial guidelines (they own the IP, the application works, they have good marketing assets, the app isn’t offensive etc…). This means that developers like Google can promote their Maps or Google App applications without worry that the platform owner may take them down due to conflict of interest. Likewise, Skype is able to promote its Skype for Windows Mobile on GetJar and not worry about GetJar’s relationships with mobile operators. What this all means is better consumer choice and also more downloads for developers and brand owners. Since consumers realize that the app they just downloaded is also available on many other handsets and platforms, they gladly share this with friends which drives downloads since over 30% of downloads come from word-of-mouth recommendations. GetJar’s mobile savvy consumers are also a prize target for brands: 75% of GetJar consumers are under the age of 25 and are over 50% are downloading content at least once a week. With those numbers it’s easy to see why brands like Fanta, Jack Daniels and Malibu are starting to embrace GetJar as a great way to reach consumers: http://www.getjar.com/products/26665/MalibuBowling As for the app wars, we’ll let the readers make up their own minds. What we can say are the facts: GetJar’s downloads have grown from 18 million downloads a month to 40 million in just under 9 months. While others talk about initiatives GetJar is driving the market. Those are the facts…. Patrick Mork VP Marketing GetJar

By pmork on Thursday Aug 20

Store or Platform?

The question is not just about the store, but the software platform that supports the applications, and relatively few of the existing mobile OS offer the same capabilities to app developers as the iPhone OS - yet. Android, for instance, has a programming model that makes it difficult to achieve the same level of performance as achievable on the iPhone, even with equivalent hardware. There is always a balancing act between creating something that is easily portable between different types of hardware, and being able to design and change both sides. Of course, for most apps that's irrelevant - the speed of the Internet is more important that the speed of the phone. As for GetJar - an insistence on free applications means it does not truly qualify as a store to me. There needs to be scope for both types of software.

By JulesLt on Tuesday Aug 25