Pros and Cons of Major App Stores

App Stores are really popular today, for customers seeking to download/purchase mobile apps and also for developers to showcase, market and sell their applications.

There are many App Stores today and each of these app stores vastly differs from the other, in terms of pricing, billing, presentation, and support. Each even rates the same app in different ways, which may finally get the customer in knots about whether or not to purchase a certain app. Which among these app stores are the best and how does one choose from them?

In this section, we deal with the pros and cons of the major App Stores in the market today.

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Apple’s App Store

Apple, inc.

What We Like

Probably the biggest app store, comprising more than 2,000,000 apps
Largest category of apps, ranging from fun apps to more serious ones
Features a whole lot of free apps. The paid ones are very reasonable
iTunes, is Apple’s biggest advantage. No other store so far offers users this facility

What We Don't Like

Only the most downloaded apps are featured prominently
Using the Apple App Store is the only method a user can install apps in their iPhone
There is duplication of many apps in the "lite" version of apps
Apple’s recent inclusion policies are very restrictive

The App Store was originally created by Apple Inc., to help users download applications, both free and paid, from the iTunes Store onto their iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

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Android Market

Android

What We Like

The Android Market features over 2,000,000 apps
Developers only pay a low fee of $25 to register
The apps are available at low costs too
Each item is categorized and listed out neatly

What We Don't Like

Quality of apps leaves a lot to be desired
Google supports only 29 countries to sell apps in their store. Developers from all other nationalities can only publish free apps
The app store is accessible only in certain countries of the world
Many developers feel that the app market is highly fragmented

Though the Google Android Market had initially gotten off to a slow start, it has now grown tremendously in both size and popularity. Some experts believe that it may very soon be capable of superseding the all-powerful Apple App Store.

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BlackBerry App World

Blackberry

What We Like

General presentation is very neat — all items are well categorized
The only app store that supports Paypal billing
The only one that pays developers 80% of the sales

What We Don't Like

On the higher end among all app stores, so products are more expensive
Some customers complain of issues during app installation
Can only be accessed in some countries of the world
This App Store requires the developer to pay up $200 to register his account therein

The BlackBerry App World, which has been live from April 2009, has proved to be one of the more promising app stores, offering more than 3500 apps. The store presentation is neat and easy to navigate. Each item is categorized systematically, so finding any app becomes very easy.

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Microsoft Windows Marketplace for Mobile

Windows

What We Like

All apps are well tested
The app store managed to feature about 400 apps in a single month.

What We Don't Like

Each developer is charged a registration fee of $99
Developers are limited to certain countries only
Developers can sell their app only in one country. If they want to feature their app in more than one country, they have to pay $10 per country
The user is allowed 5 free app tries, after which he has to pay up $99 per try
Functional only on 6.1 and 6.5 OS

In spite of having many apps in just a few months, the Microsoft Windows Marketplace for Mobile fails to impress. Of course, there are also some positives.

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Samsung Application Store

Samsung

What We Like

Neat catalogue design — the store is well-maintained
Each listing only costs $10
All apps are thoroughly tested before they feature on the app store

What We Don't Like

There are only about 600 apps in the store
For now, the app store is accessible only in Italy, UK, and France

The biggest advantage of the Samsung store is that it supports both the Symbian and the Pocket PC platforms. The store also keeps a perfect record of its apps, testing them thoroughly.

From time to time, the Samsung Application Store also involves itself in promotional activities and contests, where they offer a considerable amount of cash to the winning developer.