This is part of an interesting trend that's potentially going to be very lucrative for developers.
Apple store, Chrome web store, Android market, etc. are all solving the marketing and distribution problem for developers all over the world. Furthermore with rankings and reviews the good apps will rise to the top while the bad ones will be lost in obscurity. It's increasingly a game of creating compelling products and not compelling marketing to win.
We're not quite there yet, there's still lots of work to be done with rankings, etc. but the trend is quite clear. I wonder when Mozilla will announce their app store.
Stores do very litte for marketing (the popular apps are popular due to being good and having been excellently marketed both in and out of stores, put an app on store with no marketing and see how well it does).
Mobile appstore made sense since there wasn't an existing distribution or discovery infrastructure. For web apps the Internet has already solved distribution and discovery..
I see appstores as a plague and counter to the open and free Internet. A few companies are getting (for practical purposes) "monopolies". Altering the level playing field into one in which developers are beholden to appstores.
Except that currently these stores do very little to create that meritocracy. I'm not sure they ever truly can.
Until then marketing is a huge part of success in these stores. Be it working with the press (blogs, traditional press, and everything in between) to good old fashioned advertising. Very few app-store developers have had sustained success without the normal marketing and sales efforts that you need with any other product (at least the ones I have insight into).
I think Google's doing themselves a disservice by trying to make the Chrome Web Store sound too much like the App Store. It sets up the wrong expectation.
There's already a user backlash visible in reviews. A lot of people are disappointed that a Gmail app is just a link to the Gmail website, for example.
Here's a quick vocabulary of Google's terms and what they actually mean:
That's also my initial mindset as a developer, but I wonder how casual users will perceive this? Every time you open a new tab, the apps are there. It almost feels like an inventory in a game, like you "have" the app in some sense.
If nothing else, for a developer it must be hugely beneficial to get your website link to the new tab page.
Can someone please develop an awesome web-based IDE, so that we, developers, are not left out of the Chrome OS goodness? You can include seamless integration with github, or dropbox, for "cloud" storage. And of course, I'm assuming HTML5 will allow you to work offline.
Has anyone used Bespin and/or any existing web-based IDEs? Googling didn't return anything compelling.
Our HTML prototyping tool Quplo (http://quplo.com) is a web-based IDE for designers and developers. It doesn't have github, dropbox, or server-side coding (offline support is on the way). It's purely meant for developing prototypes. But it's a start. We'd love to see more products in this arena and we'll definitely be making sure we're in the Web Store ASAP.
For writing apps completely in JavaScript (both client-side and server-side) there's http://www.erbix.com/ which provides hosting, online IDE and a marketplace for JS apps. It doesn't have yet source version control integration but you can upload or download directories as .tar.gz or .zip archives. (Disclaimer: I'm affiliated with the project)
I'd love a web based editor that uses Dropbox (or your cloud based storage) for storage. I use Elements editor on the iPhone but for when I just have a browser...
(Similarly I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Google Applications if I could tell it to store my documents on my storage, or at least seamlessly mirror to my storage)
Anybody figured out how to setup a paid app? I already have an extension in the gallery but I don't see anywhere to set a price for it.
Also, it appears that only US and UK developers can be a Google Checkout merchant, except for the Android Market where anyone from one of a bazillion different countries can sell.
However, the Chrome Web Store developer ToS seems to imply that other payment processors can be used, provided they are approved by Google. It doesn't say who those payment processors are or how they integrate with the store.
Get ready to play some PopIt. Actually, I've never heard of this game before. But now that it's shipping with chrome I can play it all the time at work.
The apps are hosted by the publisher. You can also create a fully offline installable app, which is all the files of the app plus a manifest in a ZIP package.
it will be interesting to see if this is a way for google to provide a marketplace within ios devices (specially) via a potential release of chrome for iphone/ipad/ipod, effectively allowing android developers an in to both consumer groups.
Original poster here ... sorry the page still shows 'coming soon' ... the URL was published in Google's presentation, and they said it should be live "momentarily".
They're currently finishing up the Q&A, maybe they'll take off the 'coming soon' label when it's done.
[+] [-] mixmax|15 years ago|reply
Apple store, Chrome web store, Android market, etc. are all solving the marketing and distribution problem for developers all over the world. Furthermore with rankings and reviews the good apps will rise to the top while the bad ones will be lost in obscurity. It's increasingly a game of creating compelling products and not compelling marketing to win.
We're not quite there yet, there's still lots of work to be done with rankings, etc. but the trend is quite clear. I wonder when Mozilla will announce their app store.
[+] [-] njharman|15 years ago|reply
Mobile appstore made sense since there wasn't an existing distribution or discovery infrastructure. For web apps the Internet has already solved distribution and discovery..
I see appstores as a plague and counter to the open and free Internet. A few companies are getting (for practical purposes) "monopolies". Altering the level playing field into one in which developers are beholden to appstores.
[+] [-] panarky|15 years ago|reply
In some countries Chrome now has more than 25% market share.
That audience could make the Chrome Web Store the biggest app store on the planet.
All the apps are built using web technologies like Javascript, HTML5 and Flash.
[+] [-] huherto|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] venturebros|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] enjo|15 years ago|reply
Until then marketing is a huge part of success in these stores. Be it working with the press (blogs, traditional press, and everything in between) to good old fashioned advertising. Very few app-store developers have had sustained success without the normal marketing and sales efforts that you need with any other product (at least the ones I have insight into).
[+] [-] isani|15 years ago|reply
There's already a user backlash visible in reviews. A lot of people are disappointed that a Gmail app is just a link to the Gmail website, for example.
Here's a quick vocabulary of Google's terms and what they actually mean:
app – website
store – directory
install an app – add a bookmark
paid app – paywall managed by Google
in-app purchase – paywall managed by third party
[+] [-] bemmu|15 years ago|reply
If nothing else, for a developer it must be hugely beneficial to get your website link to the new tab page.
[+] [-] tree_of_item|15 years ago|reply
How viable is that? Wouldn't it be trivial to "steal" since you can just view the source code? Would obfuscation help at all?
I'd love to be able to sell HTML5 games, but it doesn't strike me as a realistic option.
[+] [-] raquo|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drusenko|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] izendejas|15 years ago|reply
Has anyone used Bespin and/or any existing web-based IDEs? Googling didn't return anything compelling.
[+] [-] primigenus|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vladd|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] murrayb|15 years ago|reply
(Similarly I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Google Applications if I could tell it to store my documents on my storage, or at least seamlessly mirror to my storage)
[+] [-] izendejas|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] extension|15 years ago|reply
Also, it appears that only US and UK developers can be a Google Checkout merchant, except for the Android Market where anyone from one of a bazillion different countries can sell.
However, the Chrome Web Store developer ToS seems to imply that other payment processors can be used, provided they are approved by Google. It doesn't say who those payment processors are or how they integrate with the store.
So yeah, anybody figured out how it all works?
[+] [-] pdelgallego|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] immad|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] axod|15 years ago|reply
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hbadbkkklnhamjjeag...
(Mibbit Chrome app, free version, ad supported)
[+] [-] starnix17|15 years ago|reply
They previewed it at Google IO and it still hasn't surfaced :-(.
[+] [-] JSig|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] venturebros|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] njharman|15 years ago|reply
Am I missing something?
[+] [-] isani|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] proles|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] panarky|15 years ago|reply
They're currently finishing up the Q&A, maybe they'll take off the 'coming soon' label when it's done.
[+] [-] panarky|15 years ago|reply