RIM has made headlines this week with its BlackBerry App World online store, but a trio of startups are moving to grab some attention by competing directly with Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the renegade stores will sell unauthorized applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. One expected to launch Friday is called the Cydia Store and aims to sell applications not available on Apple’s sanctioned store. Another company plans to sell adult games for the iPhone.
To purchase applications from these unauthorized stores, consumers have to “jailbreak” their iPhones — modify them so they can install and use the unauthorized apps. That’s why a third company is launching an online store called Rock Your Phone to help users who haven’t modified their iPhones.
Copying Apple’s Success
Apple iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded more than 100 million applications from the App Store since it launched last July. Thousands of applications are available, hundreds are free and 90 percent are priced at less than $10. Apple hauled in more than $30 million in revenue in its first 30 days and could see that number swell to $360 million in the first full year.
Those figures make copycat stores attractive, but analysts question how the new stores will get developers to create applications, especially considering that the iPhone has to be jailbroken. Consumers cannot modify the phone without violating Apple’s warranty, which leaves them without support if something goes wrong.
“It’s hard to see how somebody could effectively create a third-party ecosystem for mainstream consumers without Apple’s blessing,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret. “Developers would have to find some way of getting on the device, and jailbreaking the phone isn’t something the mainstream user would ever…