Comments on: Vodafone plans the Ueber-App-Store

By: ralf.rottmann

ralf.rottmann — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:34:55 +0000

Maybe, maybe not. Vodafone is not on their official reference list. And: The company exists since 1995. To me it looks at least a bit like a classical “opportunisticly productizing Professional Services engagements” strategy, which in my opinion never leads to a real capable platform.

Anyway, thanks for the pointer!

By: Zelion

Zelion — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:26:48 +0000

Will Artilium deliver the software ?

By: Daily News About Apple App Store : A few links about Apple App Store - Tuesday, 12 May 2009 08:23

Tue, 12 May 2009 16:12:05 +0000

[...] Vodafone plans the Über-App-Store | THE NEW 24100.NET [...]

By: Bryan Rieger

Bryan Rieger — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:04:20 +0000

As you mentioned, in the past building a commercial relationship with a carrier in multiple regions was really only something very few companies were capable of accomplishing. With this announcement we’re (hopefully) going to see things get much, much easier for smaller, independent developers (and agencies, media companies, etc) to create content and experiences on-top of Vodafone’s ‘platform’ (network, payment APIs, etc).

From a micropayment POV, Vodafone (like most carriers) has a huge advantage over PayPal (and similar services) on mobile devices as they can direct-bill (very easy experience for user) without the user having to enter credit card details, etc (not pleasant for user) on a mobile device.

Having a payment mechanism built-into the (mobile) web could seriously change the dynamic of the Internet, allowing for revenue sources other than advertising. This could prompt a shift of focus for many existing ‘big web’ companies from delivering primarily via desktop to mobile devices.

If this works (execution is everything), then I suspect the ‘next-big-thing’ (3-5 years) will be to enable seamless interoperability between carriers, devices and platforms.

By: froogloid

froogloid — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:05:32 +0000

Great article! Thanks for sharing! I may just have to blog about this as well….hmmmm

By: Per-Fredrik Hagermark

Per-Fredrik Hagermark — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:46:52 +0000

This is pretty big news. It has been brewing for a while and we had been given a heads up by our counterparts at Voda. Now we just want to see what the payouts are and how it will work in practice. Needless to say this is the way forward for the operators. Kudos for Voda for giving it a fair shot. Let’s hope execution will go right as well.