BlankSheet Blog
App Stores for all
It's clear the App Store has been a leading factor in the success of the iPhone. Apple has really reaped the benefit of providing an efficient marketplace for software vendors and consumers. The App Store is probably a great source for economists; I wonder how many papers we'll see in the future using data from it.
Not surprisingly, others are now trying to duplicate the success of the App Store for their platforms. Probably the most successful example outside of Apple is Steam - Valve's videogame distribution platform. According to Wikipedia, Steam has 30 million active users and over 70% of the market for digital distribution of video games. Hmm, I should look into investing in Valve. Xbox Live has also done pretty well for Microsoft. When you think about it, with the popularity of games on the iPhone, it seems like game and App Stores are made for each other.
Intel (with AppUp) and now Apple (with the new Mac App store) are trying to bring the same App store concept to the desktop. It will be fascinating to see if it flies; it's not too difficult to find desktop software on the web after all. I have my doubts that these closed ecosystems can compete, but as a software developer I'll be keeping a close watch on them.
