Vodafone has announced that developers can publish apps to the Vodafone 360 Shop through the JIL.org website. For those of you that don’t know, JIL stands for Joint Innovation Lab, which Vodafone has a particular spin on for their Vodafone 360 offering (think social networking/apps mashup service, and you’re about there…).
Through JIL.org, developers can publish apps to selected Vodafone operating companies in Europe. Developers can choose to select from one, some or all of the selected markets for each app they publish.
Vodafone offers developers a number of compelling features, including:
- Clear pricing. Developers can select from 20 price points ranging from €0.49 to €9.99 (£0.49 to £9.99 in the UK) and set separate prices for each Vodafone market.
- Attractive revenue shares. A standard 70/30 revenue share is offered, as used by other mobile app stores. Developers will be paid monthly, approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which revenue was earned. Vodafone can pay developers in €, £ or $ with direct funds transferred into the developer’s bank account.
- A transparent review process. Developers’ apps will be reviewed within 10 business days. Accepted apps immediately become available in the Vodafone 360 Shop for the local markets the developer has selected.
- In-depth reporting. Reports available on JIL.org will let developers see how many downloads/ sales each app has had at each price point in each market. Both daily and monthly reports are available. For paid apps, there are additional monthly reports showing the revenue share split and any applicable tax calculations, as well as invoices and remittance reports detailing and confirming payment.
- Range of handsets. Apps published to the Vodafone 360 shop are supported by 50 different handset models, including the Vodafone 360 H1 and M1 phones from Samsung, and many Symbian/ S60 phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. Developers can choose to select from one, some or all device classes for each app they publish. Because apps published through JIL.org are based on HTML, CSS and JavaScript, developers will be able to design apps that scale across a range of phone models.
As I mentioned before, regarding their 360 proposition, Vodafone has launched http://developer.vodafone.com – which is a dedicated site providing (surprisingly enough) developers with information on the Vodafone 360 platform, including technical guidelines to consider when building a mobile app.
To recap then – to publish your app in the Vodafone 360 Shop, go to: www.jil.org/. For further information about developing for Vodafone 360, go to: http://developer.vodafone.com.