Apple's iPhone App Store on its way

Stephen Withers
Friday, 07 March 2008 01:29

Your IT - Mobility

As widely predicted, Apple is setting up an electronic marketplace for iPhone and iPod touch software developers.

The App Store is a feature of the iPhone 2.0 software that will be released in June, and will also be accessible via the iTunes Store for those who prefer to download the applications to a Mac or PC and then sync to the iPhone.

Developers will be free to set their own prices, and Apple will take a 30 percent commission. In return, the company will pick up the bill for hosting, credit card transaction fees and other associated costs. Since 30 percent of nothing is nothing, this sounds like a particularly good deal for people who want to give their software away.

That said, the App Store will only offer products from those who sign up for the iPhone Developer Program, which costs $US99 per year and also includes access to the iPhone SDK and associated tools, prerelease iPhone software, and technical support.

There are two restrictions that might not make all developers happy. Firstly, Apple insists on exclusivity for all applications offered through the App Store, so forget about also distributing them through your own web site or other channels.

Secondly, the company will only sell applications that it approves. Software that uses excessive bandwidth (peer-to-peer applications?), pornography, VoIP softphones using cellular data (apparently using Wi-Fi will be acceptable), unlocking tools and malicious software are among the categories that will be rejected. There has been no real indication of the level of technical review that will be applied before applications go on sale, but as Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller has promised a quick and efficient process, it probably won't be all that deep.

The $US299 Enterprise Program is intended for organisations that want to distribute in-house applications to their employees via the App Store.