Google and Mozilla announced plans to open Apple-like application stores this week, adding serious weight to an already popular trend.
The application store model is particularly attractive to developers since it provides a place to market code snippets, plug-ins, and applications, which may earn on-going income. But until recently application stores have tended to cater to the burgeoning mobile market or to specific niche markets, like the Shopify application store for example.
The Google and Mozilla announcements this week are different.
Google Chrome App Store
Google's announcement centered on what the company described as the challenge of finding and promoting good web applications. According to Google, it is easier, in many cases, to find applications for your phone than it is to find browser-based applications that you can run on your laptop or desktop. And conversely, developers that have created applications often lack the reach to promote them.
The Google Chrome App Store will presumably help with the problem, bringing buyers and sellers of applications together. For ecommerce the opportunity is huge, if, in fact, Google is able to get an audience.
Imagine, for example, a web app that automatically compared prices for consumers, so that a consumer on Amazon.com would simultaneously get pricing data from Barnes & Noble and Borders without having to surf elsewhere.
The Mozilla App Store
Mozilla's announcement was less concrete than Google's, and indicated that the foundation was exploring the idea of an open web application store in response to requests from the development community.
"Web developers are expressing interest in an app store model for the web that would enable them to get paid for their efforts without having to abandon web development in exchange for proprietary silos, each with their own programming language and SDK, variable and sometimes opaque review processes, and limited reach," Mozilla said.
According to Mozilla, any successful application store would "exclusively host web applications based upon HTML5, CSS, Javascript and other widely-implemented open standards in modern web browsers — to avoid interoperability, portability and lock-in issues; ensure that discovery, distribution and fulfillment works across all modern browsers, wherever they run (including on mobile devices); set forth editorial, security and quality review guidelines and processes that are transparent and provide for a level playing field; respect individual privacy by not profiling and tracking individual user behavior beyond what’s strictly necessary for distribution and fulfillment; [and] be open and accessible to all app producers and app consumers."
It is likely that a Mozilla application store would be far less restrictive than the proposed Google Chrome store, which seems to have terms and conditions similar to Apple's application store. This sort of policy would lockout many developers.
Web Applications
The underlying assumption that both Google and Mozilla seem to be making is that web-based applications will continue to grow in popularity. For this to be the case, Gmail will need to replace Outlook, Mint will beat out QuickBooks, and developers will use online integrated development environments rather than downloaded ones.
