AllMyApps Aims to Be App Store for Windows

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A French startup hopes to be the one of the first, if not the only, app store for Windows.
AllMyApps originally launched in 2009, with the idea that the site could suggest a suite of free apps that could be installed on a new PC. In December, a beta version of the company's app store entered beta; now, by the end of the first quarter, a final version will be launched, chief executive officer Thibauld Favre told PCMag.com.
"We want to make sure it easy to manage and discover all the applications on a PC," Favre said.
For now, the site looks somewhat like other app stores on the Web: apps are broken down into different categories ("communications," "security," "office," "audio," and more). The site provides about 1,500 apps at the moment, divided between locally-installed apps and those Web apps that live in a browser.
According to Favre, AllMyApps will also share characteristics common to other app stores: consolidating a list of all of the apps a user has installed, sharing them, and auto-updating them behind the scenes. AllMyApps will go a step farther, however, and allow users to transfer their apps to other PCs, like Valve Software's Steam service, as well as back them up to the cloud.
The company's games will be casual, however; Favre said that he does not wish to take on Steam directly.
Favre acknowledged that the definition of app needs to be defined, however, in the context of the PC. "The market is divided into three tiers: the tier 1s are the 'untouchables': Norton [Symantec], EA [Electronics Arts], Microsoft, and Adobe," he said; those top-tier companies most likely won't want to appear on the service. "The tier-2 guys are much more willing to take a risk. Right now, all we have are the 'tier 3s' - all the independent developers."
AllMyApps will also provide links to paid apps. Favre said that the sweet spot is between $1 and $10. The company will take 20 percent of the revenue during the beta period, and 30 percent after the site officially launches. The site also has contracts with a credit-card payment processor, so it can process transactions itself, Favre said.
Free apps will be free, Favre said; AllMyApps may subsidize some of the apps via sponsorships or via social connections.
Still, there are things to do. AllMyApps currently lacks a rating system for the apps themselves, so that the only metric of a "good" app is by the number of downloads, which the site tallies and displays. That will be in the final version, Favre said.
 
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