14 DAY TRIAL // Telefonica is yet another telecommunication industry player to go live with its own application store for mobile phones. The new mstore software portal has been launched by the company with a number of more than 1,000 applications on board, and, while at the moment is only available for the company's users in Spain (Movistar's subscribers), it should reach more users around the world in the near future.
According to the company, the new mstore is aimed at all types of customers, while also including applications that should work with a wide range of mobile devices. The application portal includes software solutions classified into 14 categories, Telefonica states, namely Dictionaries, Education/Children, Entertainment, Finance, Games, GPS-Maps, Health, Information, Photos and Videos, Social Networks, Travel and Books, Sports, Shopping and Tools.
Guillermo Ansaldo, Chairman of Telefonica Spain, stated that “mstore is part of Telefonica's strategy to bring mobile broadband to our customers, by complementing the value of data flat rate and giving customers quick access to a new world of applications for entertainment, lifestyle and utilities.” At the same time, the storefront will enable developers to enjoy a new channel to offer their applications to end users around the world.
The mstore includes applications that have been translated into and from Spanish, as well as a variety of travel aids with city metro maps and flight schedules, expense management software, news applications and television's most popular TV series, photo management tools, personality tests or games. All software solutions can be easily downloaded to a mobile phone, the company added.
When it comes to the price tags, the applications available at the new software portal range from 0.49 euros to 19.99 euros, no VAT included. Even so, it should be mentioned that more than 10 percent of the applications come for free. Those who would like to access the new mstore will be able to do so from the movistar emocion portal. All new mobile phones from the carrier will have the app store included.