Qualcomm Busting Mobile Apps Free

(MoneyWatch)  Qualcomm's new Plaza Retail, a supermarket for mobile applications, gets the handset technology vendor into the mobile application space, and is potentially a boon for consumers and the application developers themselves.

Currently, mobile applications have to be tailored for each individual app store, which means an app that works for the iPhone doesn't work on phones made by Nokia, Research in Motion or Palm, nor phones running on Google's Android or Microsoft Windows Mobile operating systems. Developers who want their applications to work on those different smartphones have to essentially rewrite the app for each of the programming environments.

Retail Plaza, built using Qualcomm's BREW development environment, acts like an honest broker and allows developers to write code once and then sell apps based on that code in all environments. This is not only great news for developers, but for consumers who want to switch phones but hold onto their apps -- and for that matter, it's great news for carriers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, because it cuts them in on the mobile app action. As Qualcomm noted in a statement,

Plaza Retail increases the market opportunity for developers and publishers by offering a much wider range of distribution channels, presenting new opportunities for both new customers and the BREW [developer] community. Most important, because content is not tied to the device, application retailers can offer consumers the benefit of being able to upgrade or change devices without losing their application investment.

Not too happy, however, are Apple, Nokia, Research in Motion and Microsoft. Never mind the revenue stream associated with selling ads -- Gartner figures Apple is probably losing money on the apps anyway. The smartphone vendors use the apps as a way to create stickiness -- also known as customer loyalty -- whereas Plaza Retail offers consumers a way to escape from their clutches. That's a big part of their strategy, and if Retail Plaza takes off, they'll have to find another way to bind customers closer to their bosoms.