These are the problems that Alvin Koay’s Malaysia-based startup, MobileApps.com, plans to solve. Koay’s company will ask developers to sell their apps directly to the user via its cross-platform mobile app marketplace.
“Apps are cluttered out in app stores and developers face a huge challenge getting their apps discovered,” said Koay, the chief executive and founder of Singapore-incorporated company, which runs its operations in Penang, Malaysia.
Due to be launched in a month’s time, the marketplace – which will host apps that run on Android, BlackBerry, Palm, Windows Mobile, and Symbian operating systems – will charge developers only a 5% fee from every app sale, as opposed to the standard 30% fee charged by other app stores.
Apple apps, unfortunately are the exception to this rule, as apps can only be purchased from the Apple App Store (and no, there are no plans to support jailbroken iPhones). MobileApps’s support for developers for iOS apps only stretch as far as helping them market their apps – the other problem that Koay plans to solve.
To improve app discovery, MobileApps has a “Smart Widget” self-serving system similar to Google Adsense that allows easy syndication of advertisements, with developers bidding for ad slots based on a CPM costing.
MobileApps would be welcome news for Android developers and for users in countries where Google Checkout is not available, which prevents them from buying on Android Market. According to Koay, MobileApps plans to give even higher returns to the developer by negotiating better deals with mobile operators (for carrier billing) and with payment solution providers.
Currently, Koay says that 2,000 developers have signed up on his mailing list.
“It’s a promising sign, considering we haven’t done a press release on our site yet,” he says.
Sounds like a good deal? We’ll keep an eye on MobileApps’s development when it launches.
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