Microsoft, Google Follow Apple for App Stores

The idea of a mass-market Web site that sells downloadable tools, games and other applications for cell phones was scarce when Apple opened its iTunes App Store. Handset owners can buy apps from their carriers or the occasional site. Recently the app store is becoming a commonplace. But do we need many wireless app stores?

Four would-be rivals of Apple will open their own online store where developers of all stripes will sell downloadable software applications to make handsets more fun and useful. After Google’s announcement of its plan, Microsoft, T-Mobile USA and others are surely likely to follow.

The appeal of app stores is undisputable. Since its debut, Iphone and Ipod Touch’s users have downloaded more than 60 million applications, sampled more than 3000 games, calendars and fitness applications. Sales averaged $1 million a day in the first month.

Microsoft Is Coming Anew

"People are chasing the iPhone," says Van Baker, an analyst at consultancy Gartner. Owners of competing operating systems and Microsoft want to be sure that the popularity of Apple won’t ruin their own market share.

Microsoft planned to open a store to be called Skymarket, a mobile applications market. This may launch in tandem with the next version of Microsoft’s cell-phone software, Windows Mobile 7.

Scott Rockfeld, group product manager for Microsoft's mobile communications business, says the company ultimately wants to provide a resource, which includes reviews and customer feedback on products. "They are the trusted adviser to their community," Rockfeld says, "We are always innovating on Windows Mobile." The job postings have since been removed. Currently, Microsoft operates Windows Mobile App Catalog and Total Access, which collects applications and direct users to third-party sites to make purchases.

On August, Google said it will open Android Marketplace, which offers third-party applications for mobile phones running one new OS, called Android.

Baker says. "They could significantly impact the iPhone," Baker says. "If you have an equivalent of iTunes App Store available on multiple handsets, consumers will have more choice. And competition tends to spread the market."