Verizon Wireless’ attempt at cashing in on the “app store” craze appears set to come to an end as the operator said it plans to shutter the storefront by March 27, 2013. The carrier noted that most of the applications available through its branded offerings are already available through competing storefronts for the Android and BlackBerry operating system that its Verizon Apps offering targeted.
Verizon Wireless said it will start removing the application from Android and BlackBerry devices beginning in January. That could be good news for some device owners that have voiced opposition to carriers increasingly placing native applications on smartphones that users are unable to remove. For those application developers that actually provided apps for the store, Verizon Wireless said it will continue making payments until the offering is shut down.
“There’s now a whole new tech landscape in which both consumers and developers can interact like never before,” Verizon Wireless noted. “We’re evolving our strategy to further simplify today’s experience and meet the needs of tomorrow.”
Verizon Wireless initially launched its application store in early 2010, looking to gain a foothold into the then rapidly growing, though still early application market. The offering eventually targeted devices running Google’s Android and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry operating systems, though both had already begun offering applications across their own branded application stores. Industry observers have been noting for some time that application stores outside of traditional operating systems would < have little chance for survival.
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