Mobile app store PocketGear may have spoiled a Google strategy to improve Android Market with e-mail sent out to developers. In an attempt to draw developers who want to sell outside of Android Market, the company claimed that Google chief Eric Schmidt "believes in us" and has invested an unannounced amount of money. The search giant hasn't either confirmed or denied its CEO's investment.
On Tuesday, PocketGear announced it has acquired Handango, thus creating the largest cross-platform, open-source application store in the world. PocketGear itself already covered more than 2,000 mobile electronics and every main OS, while Handango offers nearly 140,000 apps for BlackBerry, Palm, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux platforms. The two are now nearly on par with the number of offerings in Apple's App Store.
Palm late yesterday signaled the surprise launch of the Palm Software Store, its own take on OS-native stores such as Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market. The store is divided into familiar categories for entertainment and productivity apps but is uniquely cross-platform; a similar interface is available both for Palm OS devices such as the Centro as well as the company's Windows Mobile-based Treo models. Free apps are given their own section independent of category.
