Android's mobile OS platform developers revealed their own version of Apple's App Store Thursday. Google-hosted Android Market is a near feature by feature copy of the iPhone's App Store -- a centralized mobile software distribution application.
There are some minor differences. According to Eric Chu, as described on Android's development blog, "We chose the term 'market' rather than 'store' because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available."
There are some more noticeable differentiations between the App Store and Android Market, garnered from the screenshots provided in the announcement:
- App Store has the top 25 downloaded free or paid software releases. Android Market does not.
- Android Market has a list of "featured" software in a glider along the top of the screen, leaving room for search and browse links. App Store has its featured software in a colorful icon-filled list that fills the screen.
- Android shows a list of the hardware specifications necessary to run the software. This will be a unique feature to Android since the operating system promises to run on a myriad of different handsets. The iPhone's operating system only works on the iPhone.
It's obvious Apple's App Store success, financial and otherwise, is a primary motivator for Google's Android Market. The beta version, available when the phone eventually launches later this year, will be installed by default with the operating system for free software only. Apparently, the revenue share and payment system is still under debate. In contrast, Apple takes 30% of App Store software sale revenue.
Beyond store profit, the benefits of such a system include ensuring stable, secure software to its devices. In the store owner's case, the companies have the instant ability to prominently display software to all of its users at once. It also gives developers the ability to showcase, through featured software, what might normally be an overlooked "killer" app. The editorial power in the hands of application store owners can put considerable pressure on developers to keep a friendly relationship lest their applications be arbitrarily removed from the store.
It's looking like the future of mobile software distribution is via centralized sources. We can trace centralized software distribution back to game systems, most noticeably XBox Live's Marketplace. It is an odd move away from the traditional internet software marketplace. Prior to now, software distribution was of a search-and-find nature. Are we to see a Windows Vista Marketplace for software distribution in the future? Will future versions of Mac OS X force users to the Apple Store to install all available software? Let's hear your thoughts on the future of software distribution in the comments.
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