Verizon V Cast App Store Launched

Verizon Wireless' V Cast App Store was quietly launched this week amid a sea of competition. Non-carrier app stores jumped from 8 to 38 last year alone Apple's App Store now boasts more than 150,000 downloadable apps and even the Android Marketplace says its inventory is in the respectable 30,000 to 40,000 range. Regardless of how far behind Verizon may be, it's clear from the company's courting of developers over the last year that it is time to give their customers access to apps and grabbing a small share of the profits.

The store has already been launched for the Blackberry Storm 2 with about 300 apps, but Leroy Williams, director of business development for Verizon's developer community last week said that the store will expand quickly.

Senior Analyst of consumer mobility for ABI Research, Mark Beccue, says there are a couple of reasons Verizon wants in on the apps game. "One would be the struggle for ownership of suscribers... It ties them more to the customer," Beccue says. While revenue is probably on Verizon's mind, it can't be on top of the list of reasons to roll out a proprietary app store. "When you look at what iPone and RIM are doing, they're almost doing this thing as a loss leader," he mentions. "I would imagine Verizon would be happy with a net-neutral outcome." Beccue noted that Verizon's strong relationships with a number of high-profile OEMs as one reason that the rollout of an apps store might go smoothly for the carrier.

The first device to get the portal is the BlackBerry Storm2, with other RIM devices (and hopefully other mobile platforms) in the coming months. The V Cast App Store is not taking the place of BlackBerry App World, so now that we have two coexisting markets on one device, it's time to see just how strong that V Cast branding is.