Berita Gadget - NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest cell phone carrier will soon launch an app store for its handsets, its President Ryuji Yamada said Wednesday (free registration necessary). NTT designs to make apps available to all handsets able to accessing its i-mode information service. Yamada added that smartphones using the store would benefit from a more open app platform.
DoCoMo will permit third-party developers build apps for the handsets, but will check them over to make definite they do not affect "public order or decency." Current i-mode content providers are charged nine percent of their revenues, but the commission for the new app store will be higher, said him.
The portal would help the company cease or slow its decreasing market share, as competitor Softbank, the sole provider of Apple's iPhone, is growing faster in subscriber numbers owing primarily to the app-centric American hardware. NTT DoCoMo does offer Android handsets, but its 50 million i-mode handset subscribers are the massive majority of its business and use only basic devices.
