Apple's iPhone has spawned many imitators, and now it looks like the company's Apps Store is about to do the same thing. Microsoft is readying its own mobile applications store for the Windows Mobile platform, CNET is reporting. The store is being called Skymarket.
The report is based on a job posting spotted online and reposted at IStartedSomething.com. It's a posting for the position of "Senior Product Manager - Skymarket" whose responsibilities will include driving "the launch of a v1 marketplace service for Windows Mobile."
Apple's App Store has been a rousing success, and has earned rave reviews since it launched earlier this summer. In large part, its success is due to its design--like the iPhone itself, the App Store is simple, streamlined, and a breeze to use--more than the number of applications it offers. (The App Store launched with about 500 titles, and current estimates put the number of available titles around 2000.)
If Microsoft is successful in luring developers to its marketplace, the Windows Mobile Skymarket has the potential to offer a much broader selection of applications than Apple's App Store. The real question will be whether or not Microsoft can design a store that is as user-friendly as Apple's offering. Time will tell: The Windows Mobile Skymarket is expected to launch sometime in 2009.
Image © Microsoft
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