Chippy wrote about it not long ago and it looks like he was right on the money. At IDF 2009, Intel has announced the Intel Atom Developer Program, the ‘app store’ framework for mobile atom products.
Don’t cast this off as a ‘me too’ for Intel though, this app store brings some really benefits to the platforms that it will serve.
First of all, Intel’s Atom app store will function on Windows and Moblin. One application written by a developer will run on both of these devices with the help of Microsoft Silverlight and other multi-platform systems such as Adobe Air.
So what’s so great about an app store anyway? An app store has the ability to drive innovative application creation because it let’s developers focus on what they do best: development. By removing the barriers of sale, such as having to devise a secure payment and distribution method for each individual program, developers will be able to flourish. By breaking down these walls, even a single person with a good idea has a chance to make money from users that want their program. This means great applications for the users, and a money making potential for devs, which should draw developers to this platform.
While an app store is a good thing for consumers, it still has some barriers to overcome. An app store works great on something like the iPhone or Android, because these are systems that only run particular applications to begin with. Intel’s app store will be running on Moblin (Linux) and Windows; both x86 platforms which are already capable of running applications that are out there. Intel will need to distribute this app store well if people are going to really take advantage of it. By opening up this app store, Intel is competing against THE app store… not sure what I’m talking about? It’s called the internet. Because these machines are x86, users are used to simply finding and buying a program on the web, something that Intel will need to work hard to undo.
Jump over to MIDMoves for the full press release from Intel.
September 24th, 2009 at 8:47 am
New article: Intel announces an app store for Moblin (better news than it might seem) http://cli.gs/U9TRL
September 24th, 2009 at 11:35 am
that will be mostly a issue on windows, unless moblin can handle existing linux packages from some existing distro, and even then the custom gui may get in the way unless one can opt out of it somehow…
September 24th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I spent some time with the project team, picked their brains and have written it up in a post that will go live very shortly.
September 24th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
You’re pretty limited in the scope of what you can make if you can only use Air and Silverlight.
September 25th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I hope this will bring REAL handheld MIDs and smartphone with Atom architecture to fruition rather than scaling Netbook market upward.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I can only say to that app store, on windows device NOBODY need this app store!