An app store for handsets other than the iPhone

It's easy to feel jealous of the iPhone, no matter how cool your own phone is. Why? Because Apple has the App Store, which lets iPhone users download such cool applications as iBeer. No matter how nifty your new handset is, it probably doesn't have easy access to as many apps as an iPhone.

The problem, of course, is that the huge variety of carriers and handset models makes it difficult for developers to design applications that work everywhere. But today, Hands-On Mobile launched a beta version of its Hands-On Mobile Developer Network, which will allow developers design rich mobile applications that work on any phone. The San Francisco company will also soon release Mixt, which makes it easier for cellphone users to find the applications, once they're developed.

Eventually, the applications will work with all four major carriers.

"Apple made really a big splash when it launched the iPhone, and it had a built-in developer community," said Michael Temkin, chief technology officer of Hands-On Mobile. He said that developers are looking for ways to easily develop similar applications for other phones. "I think there's really a pent-up demand for it," he said.

So far, Hands-On has a variety of applications, including a Magic 8 ball on phones that will answer users' questions and a local search feature. We'll know it has caught up to the App Store when people with lots of different handsets can go to the bar after work and all drink iBeers from their own separate phones.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo: iPhone. Credit: Niels van Eck via Flickr

Comments

[opherko]

Why is this even news? There have been online stores for the Palm platform applications since the 90s. Including the Treo. I used a Treo for 6 years before moving to an iPhone this year. Before that I used a Palm Pilot and cell phone. While I completely approve of Apple's implementation of an online store, it wasn't new then, and isn't new now either.

[Scott]

Isn't that the point of Android? Best of luck to them, though.

[Pranay]

Its cuz palm or others never made it possible to download apps over the air.
that's the essence of an app store. its a truly mobile store.

[Dave]

Try iBerry for BlackBerry. Very similar look as the iPhone and the added feature of an e-mail service that works.

[victor lund]

Our company just released on the app store Monday morning - to find it there you need to do a search for zhiing.

Our blackberry application is getting lots of adoption, but nowhere close to the iphone adoption. Basically, despite launching our blackberry application on all of the popular portals, it is really the iphone that is driving adoption. When an iphone user sends a zhiing to a blackberry, the blackberry user is offered the application - if they download it, they get a better user experience. If they do not download, then zhiing works anyway - it just sends directions using sms.

Blackberry needs to get up to speed. They announced to us that they were launching the application storefront in December 2008. Currently the launch is scheduled for March 2009. That is poor.

Disclosure: I have a vested interest in zhiing, and want the iPhone and Blackberry app stores to succeed - Android is next.

[Benjamin Wesson, Dexterra]

The introduction of any new initiative that encourages the growth of a developer community should be welcomed with open arms. The news today that Google has decided to make the open source code for Android “freely available” to all developers, coupled with the success of the App Store, means that now’s a great time to be a mobile application developer.

Although iBeer and other such quirky apps catch the eye and get people talking, there’s a much bigger potential market out there for corporate applications. Both Apple and Google in particular have been making the right noises about their devices in the business world, so hopefully Hands-On Mobile will also look to meet this demand with its new Developer Network.

[AppBeacon]

Many of the apps from the Blackberry and Palm OSs have been ported for the iPhone. Scrabble (my favorite) was originally on the Palm. I'm sure iPhone specific developers won't have any trouble porting their apps over to Android. We're all spoiled for choice.

[iPhoneFan]

I just loaded the zhiing app to my phone and my wifes. Great app! Being able to send a message with directions will be great for meeting with clients.

I loaded zhiing on my sixteen-year old-daughters phone too. We now have a new deal with her, whenever she goes out with friends she now needs to check in with zhiing.