Vodafone to Introduce Mobile Application Store This Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 12, 2009 - 12:35pm.

London - International wireless carrier Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) announced on Tuesday that it will launch an online store where customers can purchase a range of applications for their mobile phones, Reuters reported.

Customers will be charged directly through Vodafone's billing system, and application developers will receive 70% of revenue.

The store is set to launch later this year in the U.K., Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

The company also plans to expand access to up to 1 billion customers through partner networks, including Verizon in the U.S. and China Mobile.

The move by Vodafone follows on the success of Apple's App Store, which has served over a billion iPhone and iPod touch applications since launch, and more recent offerings from Nokia and BlackBerry.