早在苹果App Store问世之前，市场上就已经有不少在线应用商店为手机用户提供产品下载服务，但苹果强大的竞争力以及其他巨头的相继宣战，开始让这些小型应用商店的日子每况愈下。

为了增加流量，独立应用商店GetJar不但同时面向Android、Symbian用户开放服务，而且还在今年10月推出了一项新措施，为用户提供一些免费促销的游戏，比如《头脑风暴》（Brain Genius）、《使命号召》（Call of Duty）等其他应用商店的付费游戏。

另一家跨平台应用商店PocketGear今年2月收购竞争对手Handango后，开始从独立运营在线应用商店，转向了帮助手机制造商、移动运营商（比如美国加州的Novatel Wireless）创建及运营应用商店的商业模式。

PocketGear-Handango

这些迹象表明，这一市场竞争已经日趋白热化，独立应用商店均面临巨大生存压力。苹果App Store自2008年以来一直独领风骚，这种现象也促使谷歌、主流手机制造商、移动运营商争先效仿，接二连三地推出自己的应用商店。

据英国市场调研公司Juniper Research的报告所称，全球手机应用营收到2015年将增长至320亿美元，比2009年的100亿营收还要多两倍以上。

苹果App Store的付费和免费应用总数现在已经超过30万款，因此在这一市场领域优势巨大，Juniper调查结果显示，在2009年全球应用商店的26亿次下载量中，App Store独占了65%；GetJar仅占15%，谷歌、无线运营商和其他手机制造商只能共同分食剩下的一点残羹。Juniper的分析师温莎·霍顿（Windsor Holden）预测，今年的状况会发生变化，谷歌Android Market的份额将有所增加。

现在仍有许多智能手机用户根本不了解GetJar和苹果App Store以外的其他应用商店。一名纽约的iPhone用户甚至表示，既然苹果已经提供了全套的服务，他不知道自己还有什么必要去使用GetJar。

独立应用商店要成功吸引用户的确需要很大的市场营销能耐，但手机制造商、移动运营商在这方面却占有相当的优势，因为手机产品总是先经过他们之手，才能销售给用户。

一家美国市场调研机构Parks Associates的移动部门总监哈里·王（Harry Wang）认为，“用户就是没有选择第三方应用商店的意识，这正是这些应用商店面临的最大问题。”

这些独立应用商店的另一个劣势在于，它们并非应有尽有，产品种类仍然比较有限。例如，苹果App Store最热销的《水果忍者》（Fruit Ninja）、《疯狂的查德》（Mad Chad）等付费游戏，以及美国艺电出品的《极品飞车》（Need for Speed）等电子游戏，它们都没有在GetJar供应销售。造成这种现象的原因是，开发商不愿意在GetJar网站上投放这些应用。

getjar

GetJar成立于2004年，该网站上共有7万5千款可免费下载的应用产品，同时支持用户搜索iPhone应用，提供可转到苹果App Store页面的下载链接。

开发商可以竞价投标GetJar网站的黄金展位，也可以根据地区、手机平台等定位来竞标。在美国的GetJar用户如果下载了一款应用，开发商就得支付15美分至1.5美元以上的费用给GetJar；开发商也可以先推出免费下载的应用版本，然后再提供付费下载版本。

GetJar董事长Ilja Laurs表示，免费派送手机应用的运营模式，刺激了在线应用商店的流量，不但让开发商更乐意付费购买应用曝光率，而且有利于提高GetJar的竞争力。目前为止，GetJar的应用下载量已经超过10亿次。

Handmark这家独立应用商店创建于2000年，在2009年收购手机内容发行平台FreeRange Communications公司后，就正式开始业务转型，现在专为主流传媒公司开发应用软件。该公司董事长保罗·雷迪克（Paul Reddick）认为在线销售手机应用是一桩“不赖的生意”，但有了Android Market，用户很难想起Handmark这个名字。他甚至自言，“我不能将整个公司的前途押在独立销售应用这个业务上，因为谁也不会忘记市场上还有谷歌应用商店这个选择。”

当然，这些应用商店的改革措施究竟有多大成效，现在还不宜过早下结论。不过可以肯定的情况就是，GetJar现在仍然处于无利可图的运营状态，因为它在产品开发和用户体验上投入了太多血本。

Pocketgear的情况同样如此，但今年8月已经从TomorrowVentures LLC、BlackBerry Partners Fund、Trident Capital等公司获得了1500万美元投资。GetJar、Pocketgear两家公司都拒绝透露公司的具体财务状况。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Indie App Stores Struggle

Long before Apple Inc. started selling trendy applications to iPhone users, there were online stores where consumers could download apps for their cellphones. But Apple’s dominance and the entry of other giants into the apps store business is forcing these smaller players to change tactics to survive.

In an effort to boost traffic, GetJar Inc., which lets users download apps for phones running Google Inc.’s Android and Nokia Corp.’s Symbian, launched a service in October that offers free downloads of certain games, such as “Brain Genius” or “Call of Duty.” The games typically cost money to download in other stores.

PocketGear Inc., another cross-platform app store, acquired competitor Handango in February for an undisclosed amount. Since then, the company has moved away from the online storefront model to focus on building and operating app stores for handset manufacturers and mobile operators such as Novatel Wireless Inc. in San Diego, Calif.

The moves illustrate the increasing pressure independent app stores are under, as competition heats up. The success Apple has found since it launched its App Store in 2008 has prompted Google and major handset manufacturers and mobile operators to launch their own app stores.

Revenue for mobile apps is expected to more than double to $32 billion in 2015 from under $10 billion in 2009, according to Juniper Research Ltd., a U.K.-based market research firm.

But Apple, which offers more than 300,000 free and paid apps in its App Store, has captured most of the business. Of the roughly 2.6 billion apps downloaded from stores in 2009, Apple took 65%, Juniper says.

GetJar accounted for 15%, and Google, wireless carriers and other handset makers accounted for the rest. Windsor Holden, an analyst at Juniper, expects the picture to change this year, with Google’s Android Market gaining share.

Many smartphone owners are unaware of GetJar and other alternatives to Apple’s store. “It’s hard to me to see why I want to use” GetJar, says Dan Fleischer, an iPhone owner in New York. “The one nice thing about Apple is it’s all designed to work together,” the 36-year-old energy financier says.

Getting consumers over to independent app stores requires significant marketing efforts. Handset manufacturers and mobile operators have a strong advantage, because smartphones pass through their hands first before consumers purchase it.

“People just don’t think they have the option to go to a third party app store to get the app they want, and this is a big problem for those store owners,” says Harry Wang, director of mobile research at Parks Associates, a Dallas research firm.

Also some apps aren’t available on the independent stores. For example, top selling paid apps on Apple’s store, such as “Fruit Ninja” and “Mad Chad,” and videogames such as “Need for Speed” from Electronic Arts Inc., are missing from GetJar. That’s because it’s at the developers’ discretion to feature their app on the GetJar site.

GetJar, which was founded in 2004, offers free downloads of all of the 75,000 apps on its site. It also lets users discover iPhone apps and links them to the Apple App Store to download them.

Developers bid for top placement on GetJar’s site and can target their bids by country and handset. When a consumer downloads an app, the developer pays GetJar, typically from 15 cents to more than $1.50 in the U.S. Developers have the option to charge for premium versions of the app, after consumers download the free version.

Ilja Laurs, chief executive of GetJar, says the model of giving away the app brings more traffic to the online store, which attracts developers willing to pay to be discovered, and helps the company compete against Apple and other handset manufacturers. To date, GetJar has amassed over one billion downloads.

Handmark Inc., an independent app store founded in 2000, has shifted its model towards building apps for major media companies. Paul Reddick, chief executive of Handmark, calls selling apps online a “fine business,” but says Handmark is challenged to get people to think of its store before Google’s Android Market when they want to download something.

“I can’t in good conscious bet the whole company’s fate on independently distributing apps, because you can’t just ignore that there is a Google app store,” Mr. Reddick says. Handmark’s shift follows its 2009 acquisition of FreeRange Communications, a mobile publishing platform.

Still it’s too soon to tell how successful these new efforts will be. Privately-held GetJar in San Mateo, Calif., says it is currently unprofitable, because it’s investing heavily into product development and customer experience.

Pocketgear, which is based in Durham, N.C, and privately-held, is also unprofitable, but secured $15 million in financing in August from TomorrowVentures LLC, an investment firm in which Google CEO Eric Schmidt is involved, the BlackBerry Partners Fund and venture firm Trident Capital. Both companies declined to disclose their financials.（source:online.wsj）