Room for one more?
Here's yet another mobile app store to add to your ‘app fatigue' - browser outfit Opera has opened its own.
The app store offers apps for Java, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, WebOS and Windows Mobile/Phone, but not yet iOS. However, speaking to The Register, Mahi de Silva, EVP of consumer mobile at Opera says that the store will eventually provide links back to the Apple App Store, despite Apple preventing third-parties from selling iOS apps.
This store is available as a speed dial link in the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers, which makes it convenient for users to access. Opera also says the store is customized to each user, providing a tailor-made catalogue based on the OS of the phone, local language and currency.
The mobile store is available to both users and non users of Opera, on all popular platforms across 200 countries. Opera is currently working with Appia, what it refers to as the world's largest open app marketplace and white label storefront platform.
To help developers gain easy entry into the store, it has also launched the Opera Publisher portal. "Our partnership with Appia delivers to all Opera Mobile and Opera Mini users, easy access to a wide variety of great content, on any device, all over the world," Mahi de Silva, EVP, Consumer Mobile, Opera Software said in a press statement issued by the company.
Opera claimed the store attracted more than 15 million users in February, from 200 countries; achieving more than 700,000 downloads per day during its beta phase.
After GetJar, the Opera mobile app store is the only other individual mobile store that stores and sells app across all platforms. However, Opera doesn't sell iOS apps. The company also hasn't revealed its revenue model yet. The new startup Mobilewalla we covered yesterday might also face competition from the Opera store.
