App stores are not the future of the mobile web, says Google

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App stores are not the future of the mobile web, says Google

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 20 July, 2009

READ MORE: Google | App Store

The application store has certainly been the highlight of the key mobile players' strategies this year, but Google claims stores do not represent the future of the industry. Despite its work on Android Market, most consumers will turn to the browser for their content and information requirements, said VP of engineering Vic Gundotra, speaking at the Mobilebeat conference in San Francisco.

This indicated another way in which Google is bifurcating its mobile internet strategy, between a platform for handsets that is tightly integrated with the device (Android), and a broader one for netbooks, smartbooks and similar products, that relies entirely on the browser and accessing content and apps in the cloud (Chrome OS). Like Intel, Google is talking up the continuing importance of the latter in usage of the web on the move - rather than assuming PC derivatives like the netbook will decline in the near or medium term in favor of new-style, fully mobile products with entirely new software and behaviour patterns.

Gundotra said no company, not even Google, is rich enough to support all the many mobile platforms in existence, and that will force most vendors, operators and users away from an app store model that will only get more fragmented. "What we clearly see happening is a move to incredibly powerful browsers," he said. "Many, many applications can be delivered through the browser and what that does for our costs is stunning. We believe the web has won and over the next several years, the browser, for economic reasons almost, will become the platform that matters and certainly that's where Google is investing."

This is not stopping companies, including Google itself, from stepping up their store efforts. Microsoft will shortly open up its Windows Marketplace for Mobile shopfront, and a recent trademark filing suggests it could be planning to launch a second store, which would also cover other platforms like the Zune HD media player. Blogger Long Zheng, points out Engadget.com, has uncovered an application for the 'OneApp' trademark, for "online retail store services facilitating the download of computer software for use on mobile phones, media players and other portable electronic devices". Further details in the document suggest that the idea is to create a store covering all Microsoft powered devices, speculation that is given some weight by news that the Windows Mobile 7 team is collaborating with the Zune unit (perhaps on the much anticipated, but still mythical, Zune phone, perhaps on a unified software environment).

Meanwhile, T-Mobile has been one of the most thoughtful operators in seeking to create a new app store model that would differentiate a carrier shopfront from that of Apple, rather than emulate it. The US branch of the cellco is already working on its own cross-platform portal covering all the smartphones its carries, and even integrating with Wi-Fi, and now it is looking to distinguish itself by signing up exclusive programs, rather than by boasting of huge numbers of apps.

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