China Telecom App Store Downloads Reach 20,000
Netease Tech, 9/22/09
According to a source at Sichuan Telecom, China Telecom's (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) mobile applications store, the E-Surfing Spaces Applications Market, has provided more than 20,000 application downloads and garnered nearly 10,000 registered users - with several hundred new users each day - since launching in public beta on September 1.
E-Surfing Spaces Applications Market was jointly produced by Sichuan Telecom and Huawei. A source at Sichuan Telecom revealed that the operator plans to create a business partner association in the near future in hopes of attracting more domestic and overseas IT industries to join in building the application store platform.
E-Surfing Spaces Applications Market offers more than 500 applications from over a hundred vendors, as well as five "brand stores." The app store currently has a number of major domestic IT enterprise partners including Chinese internet company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), mobile browser developer UCWeb, security software developer Qihoo 360, mobile sharing portal Datou.com, and mobile portal 3G.cn.
The source at Sichuan Telecom added that during the initial stage of the app store's development, the majority of applications will use a shareware model of free downloads/paid usage, and will encourage developers to use a "try before you buy" model. Beta offerings will be free for use; after the beta period ends, users will have a range of payment options including by time credit used, by month, or based on in-game props. Developers will be free to set prices for their products within price ranges set by China Telecom, with prices to be reviewed and approved by the operator.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "China Telecom Starts Beta Testing App Store"MD 9/01/09 issue.
Keywords: statistics CDMA2000 EV-DO mobile data Qihoo 360 Datou Sichuan Telecom China Telecom wireless Baidu Huawei 3G.cn UCWEB 3G app store E-Surfing registered users 0728.HK BIDU CHA pricing mobile application
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