May App Store Report Now Available
The May edition of the WIP App Store Report is now available for download. The WIP App Store Wiki now lists 75 stores, up from 68 in April. The new entrants included:
The announcement of the TomTom App Store, which will sell apps for the company's new PNDs running a WebKit-based platform, brought up an interesting trend: we're starting to see more and more App Stores for devices that aren't phones (at least not in the traditional sense), but are open to mobile developers. For example, there's AutoLinQ from car parts maker Continental. The company is working on an in-car computing system that will run Android, and it will eventually open the system up for outside developers. Android's being used in several different ways beyond phones, including on web tablets and even televisions.
We decided to take a look at the App Stores we're tracking the wiki by the type of device they cater to. Unsurprisingly, smartphones came out on top, with 39 of the 75 stores. But 26 serve both featurephones and smartphones, with another 3 serving only featurephones, indicating there's still a lot of life left in developing for these devices. Currently, five stores are aimed at other types of devices, like netbooks, tablets and even cars.
We expect this number to grow significantly over the coming months, particularly as mobile OSes like Android get extended a more diverse range of device types. This could create an interesting opportunity for mobile developers to extend beyond their traditional sweet spot of mobile phones, and get a jump on other developers thanks to their familiarity with the platforms being used.
What do you think? Is this an interesting area for mobile developers to keep an eye on? And along those lines, do you think we should continue to track these stores in the WIP App Store Wiki?