Vodafone joins the app store race
Not long after Orange unveiled its plans to release an Application Shop, now Vodafone has announced some sort of a mobile app store too.
I say “some sort” because, according to Vodafone, the upcoming app store will only contain “mobile internet applications and services”, which probably means that apps unrelated to mobile Web are not included.
Nonetheless, this is interesting news for Vodafone’s 289 million global users.
The giant carrier said it would provide software developers with a SDK (Software Development Kit) and a set of network APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), starting this summer.
Developers will then be able to create applications and sell them via Vodafone’s post and prepaid handsets (customers will be able to pay for the apps directly from their phones).
Vodafone also mentioned that it would “provide partners and developers with customer controlled access to other network capabilities, such as location awareness, enabling them to create even more innovative mobile internet services and applications.”
The upcoming Vodafone app store is part of the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) initiative, which currently includes China Mobile, Japan’s Softbank and Verizon Wireless.
Via Press release
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