If you are an app developer and are confused about all the app stores out there, there is now a wiki that helps you find information about the app stores from Wireless Industry Partnership(WIP).
The WIP App Store Wiki www.wipwiki.com/appstores provides information to help developers and marketers make informed decisions and figure out what technology, platforms and markets are the most profitable and reachable.
Using a wiki format, WIP enables the community to soure information so the data is up to date and relevant.
There are now more than 30 mobile App stores in the market and their numbers are growing - a boon for developers in increasing and easing their channels to market. But this array of App stores can also lead to poverty for developers and disarray for marketers. App store placement and management is becoming a full time job.
"Given the economics, a one App Store approach will not work," explains Caroline Lewko, CEO of WIP, "so we encourage developers to broaden their scope of App Stores, and to carefully select the ones that provide the best market reach and business model fit for their company."
Consider the Apple Appstore which has approx. 125,000 developers, 85,000 apps which generate between $140M and $250M a quarter (Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Toni Sacconaghi report). This means each company generates on average a maximum of $8,000 a year. This is not a sustainable business model for mobile developers. Similarly, marketers and advertisers are realizing that an Apple App Store strategy only reaches 1.2% of mobile phone user population (50M), clearly does not equal a mass media approach.
The WIP App Store Wiki currently showcases 19 app stores with detailed profiles including: Android Market, BlackBerry App World, GetJar, Handango, iPhone App Store, LG Application Store, Mobango, China Mobile Mobile Market, Netfront, Nokia Ovi Store, Orange Application Store, Orange Application Store, Palm App Catalog, Sony Ericsson Play Now Arena, Pocket Gear, Samsung Applications Store, Symbian Horizon, VCAST Apps Store, and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
Each App Store profile contains information divided into three important parts:
1. APP Store Stats and Facts - including information like regional reach, addressable markets, # of apps to date, pricing and more (to make marketing decisions).
2. Developer Submission Facts - including the development environment (runtimes, platforms devices), rev share, billing options, fees and certification (to make technical and business models decision).
3. Comments - a free form area where anyone can comment on their experience.
"It's a wiki!," says Caroline Lewko, the CEO of WIP, "We'd like to encourage everyone in the mobile ecosystem to update the information, add new app stores, and provide your comments and experiences. We also believe the WIPwiki can be an advocacy tool for the developer community to make their opinions heard. "
Over its existence WIP has provided developers with opportunities for their voice to be heard as a group and to influence the large players in the telco industry. This is our latest initiative to make sure that the risk takers, our smaller member of the mobile ecosystem get a reward for their efforts.