14 DAY TRIAL // Application stores turn out to be an increasingly popular trend these days, as another manufacturer seems to have plans to launch such a portal. Acer has just entered the smartphone market, yet the company seems determined to make all the necessary efforts to gain as much market share as possible, and it looks like it could soon unveil a software marketplace for the mobile devices it makes.
We have already seen a range of application stores unveiled lately, and the pioneer in the area is, as many of you might already know, Apple. Following its move, other mobile phone makers also came up with their own portals, like Nokia, with its Ovi Store, or RIM, with BlackBerry App World, among others.
Acer's senior corporate VP and smart handheld president Aymar de Lencquesaing seems to have said that the company was considering the possibility to launch an application store, reports Mobile Entertainment. The new portal would be available for users to access directly from the company's newly unveiled devices.
The computer maker announced not too long ago that it had four Windows Mobile 6.1-powered mobile phones ready for launch, namely Acer M900, F900, X960 and DX900, and that the devices would become available this spring. Furthermore, the company also stated that we should see four handsets running under the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system come to market during the second half of the ongoing year, F1, L1, C1 and E1, the last two of which are expected to be rather affordable handsets, priced under €49.
For the time being, the Acer doesn't seem to have taken a decision in the direction of launching the app store, yet it will probably announce its plans in a short while. For what it's worth, given the fact that it only has WinMO-based mobile phones, the company will compete with Microsoft's Windows Mobile catalog in case it really launches its store.