Cellmania, a company that builds and licenses the software that drives many mobile phone stores, has launched a new platform called the Android Content Storefront for Android phones that will allow carriers and manufacturers to install their own, customized app stores on Android phones.
While Android phones already offer Google’s official app store, Cellmania CEO Ronjon Nag says that many carriers and manufacturers are looking for a way to offer their own stores, where they can feature localized content and sell media like music, ring tones, video, and graphics (none of which can currently be sold through Google’s store). The store also supports a variety of different payment plans, including subscriptions, charging purchases to the user’s phone bill, and ‘in-app’ purchases, which allow users to purchase virtual goods and other services from directly within the app.
As an added bonus to developers, Cellmania’s storefront includes software that can convert J2ME applications (which are common on many other mobile phones) into Android executables.
Cellmania has a long history with a number of major cell phone carriers and manufacturers, which puts it in a position to have its white-labeled storefronts come as default applications for some Android phones. That said, Cellmania’s third party app stores would not be Android’s first – other companies like Handango have offered their own markets too.
sounds like a dumb idea to me
dunno, not sure yet.
I guess this is Android’s answer to the iPhone’s app store? Cause It may take a while to do any damage at all to the iPhone. But you gotta give’em the marks for trying
Getjar also offer white label app stores for operators
Are cellmania hosting the android apps themselves or linking into the android market for fulfilment?
Cellmania offers a hosted solutuion. They have been building app stores for almost 10 years.
Google should watch out.. Will this kill the openness in the marketplace? I do agree it would be nice to have more types of content on Android, but in the past we have learned carriers don’t always understand what the consumer wants.
Hmmmm. If there is only one source for Android apps how open is it? More choice = More open
So is this going to destroy the google marketplace?
Clause from android.com
Distributing Apps outside Android Market
http://market.a...p;answer=142471
Distributing your apps through Market is non-exclusive; you may choose to distribute your applications through other channels as well. Keep in mind the version published in Market must comply with all Android Market policies.
This is a very interesting post..and with 40 expected Android devices coming to the market by the end of next year.. Cellmania can position itself to take on the iPhone App shop! Finally, someone brave enough to take this step! Win for Google..Win for Carrier
Cellmania appears to be doing this for a long time, but do they have what it takes to compete with Google? This is direct slap in the face.
Great – just what we need, app store fragmentation. The Apple App Store is successful because all the millions of iPhone buyers go to one place for their apps. It’s super simple for users, and developers don’t have to fragment their efforts, or risk choosing a “lame” app store.
So it’s an app store competitor? Not very appealing from the developer point of view. Regardless, I’d research any new marketplace with a site like This* digital security site.
I think the bigger point is being missed…cellmania has built a platform for others to create storefronts. These are not Yahoo! stores either. These allow customers to browse similar products. In addition, the billing, according to the flowchart on their page (http://www.cell....com/operators/) shows that apps can be purchased through an e-comm engine on the cellmania site but then charged to the phone’s bill.
This is brilliant! A glimpse of the future, I’d bet…
TC – the ‘Learn More’ link leads to a 505
They have been building app stores for almost 10 years.
Keep in mind the version published in Market must comply with all Android Market policies.