Sprint to open mobile app store in 2010

Sprint Nextel announced it will introduce a new, more open mobile application storefront and will remove its own on-deck offering from future BlackBerry and Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets, much as its current Android and Palm webOS smartphones ship embedded with app stores unique to their respective operating systems. "It's kind of a big new day for us to relinquish that management," said Sprint's general manager of wireless consumer applications J.P. Brocket at this week's Sprint Open Developer Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., ComputerWorld reports. "But ultimately, if you make good content and customers want it, you should have the right to get it out there and succeed... I don't need 10 people behind a desk, behind a wall, looking at every piece of content and making the call whether it's good or bad. Customers will make that choice."

Sprint will launch the app store in the first quarter of 2010, promising it will approve submissions as long as they meet basic criteria like functionality and core controls. While the operator did not outline a specific revenue sharing formula, it said its model will be in line with the industry norm--most app store owners award 70 percent of revenues to app developers. Sprint adds it will introduce marketing opportunities to help developers make their apps distinct from rival software, and will work to add operator billing options across available app stores, including BlackBerry App World and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.  In addition, Sprint will team with independent app store GetJar to expand its arsenal of applications available to feature phones.

Sprint did say it will not divulge subscriber information to developers to help them more effectively tweak and market their applications to specific user demographics. "I don't think sharing full information about customers is something that we're going to be opening up any time soon, if ever," Brocket said.

For more on the Sprint app store:
- read this ComputerWorld article

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