AMD to Open GPGPU 'App Store' for AMD Fusion APUs

It really seems that the “app store” application delivery system is becoming more and more widespread, with just about every big name in the CE and IT segments coming up with some sort of system of this type, AMD being one of the latest to join the pack.

As some of you already know too well, AMD has launched at CES 2011 its Fusion platform, that combines a CPU and a GPU on the same die, allowing for an enhanced user experience.

However, while there are certain applications optimized for this GPGPU (general-purpose processing on the graphics processing unit) platform, things will change in the future, when more and more software apps that make the best use of the Fusion's computing capabilities will pop up.

The main problem that remains here is finding the best way to deliver these applications to the owners of Fusion-powered machines (or at least, inform them of their existence), and AMD's currently going through some serious brainstorming in order to find the best solution for this issue, as X-bit Labs reports.

Nevertheless, it seems that, while inspired from the “app store” model, AMD's “online software repository” will take a slightly different approach.

"We are not necessarily interested in creating a commerce back-end and [establishing] our own app store. What we are interested in doing is helping the consumers to find software optimized for our platforms. So, there is a way for us to do this that looks a little different than, say, iTunes app store," said John Taylor, director of client product and software marketing at AMD, for X-Bit Labs.

It also seems that the Catalyst Control Center optimized for Fusion will play an important part in the dissemination of GPGPU, although that's about as far as AMD's were willing to go on this topic.

Of course, we're quite eagerly waiting to see just how customers will react to the appearance of such an app store, but given the fact that this application delivery method has already proved its worth, especially in the field of smartphones, it's quite likely that it will enjoy quite a warm welcome.