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Orange sets up mobile app shops
10 December 2009
France Telecom’s Orange is to roll out application stores for its mobile phone customers in France and the UK, followed by three other countries in 2010
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France Telecom
Orange
app store
app shop
iPhone
i-mode
DoCoMo
Comment: App stores are catching on, years after NTT DoCoMo pioneered the idea with its i-mode phones in Japan. Though everyone pretended enthusiasm early this decade, it took Apple, with its iPhone app store, to show everyone else the way. Expect some fixed operators also to try out the idea.
Orange has set up its own shops to sell downloadable videos, games, music and other content to its 130 million mobile phone subscribers. The mobile phone unit of France Telecom will launch the App Shop in France and the UK immediately, while the stores in other markets, including Spain, Poland, and Slovakia, will open in 2010.
From January 2010, Orange will pre-load its App Shop software on some of the handsets it sells, including two Sony Ericsson models and a Nokia phone. Later, it will include Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola and Research In Motion phones.
Orange is looking to customise its application shop in each country by recruiting local managers to select the best content for the market.
In May, Nokia rolled out its own app store, called Ovi. Other telecom operators and technology majors, including Vodafone and Microsoft, are also planning to launch their own shops. GTB