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Ericsson, the company that makes infrastructure equipment, not Sony Ericsson, the company that makes phones, launched an app store at Mobile World Congress. It’s called eStore, has 30,000 applications inside already, and it isn’t a consumer facing app store, it’s for operators to use.
The conversation goes something like this:
“Hi, I’m an operator and I want to build a network covering 10 million people.”
“Yea, we can do that.”
“Great! We also need some customer management and billing backend stuff.”
“We got you covered, want an App Store as well?”
“Wait, you mean like Apple?”
“Yea, just change our logo with your own, and rock and roll. Give your consumers the illusion that you’re innovative and offer something that no other operator offers even though all your competitors can just as easily call us and offer the exact same store, albeit with their logo and not yours.”
“I had my bullshit flavored cereal this morning, so consider me sold!”
“That’ll be 2 billion EUR please!”
“Do you take American Express?”
And that is how a consumer will end up with an App Store on their mobile phone. Why didn’t Ericsson join the Wholesale Applications Community is beyond me.
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
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