Palm Launches New Apps Store
Palm's popular Centro and attractive Treo 800 devices are appealing but overshadowed by RIM and Apple's devices (and the G1). Indeed, the troubled company appeared to be falling further and further behind in a category -- smartphones -- that it essentially invented. Part of the reason for that is the ecosystem of software applications that has emerged around the iPhone in particular and is emerging for the other devices.
The newly introduced Palm apps store instantly makes Palm devices/platform more viable and potentially competitive for many consumers who are starting to use the availability of software applications as a criterion in making hardware buying decisions. Impressively there are "already" 5,000 apps available according to the site (compare 10,000+ for the iPhone). Many/most would have been largely unknown but for the aggregation of these in a single location:
This launch also shows how Windows Mobile would similarly benefit from the aggregation of its developer applications into a single, user-friendly location. (Indeed the Treo is a WinMo phone.) Of course there's Handango but most users are not probably not aware of the site.
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Related: Pandora comes to Windows Mobile.