Seriously? A Physical Retail App Store? Interesting Move by Openspace
By: Hillel Fuld
We have all heard about the various challenges that mobile app developers face on a daily basis. Of course, the two primary barriers are app discovery and monetization. The thing is, when it comes to monetization, there are endless solutions available that get the job done. Say what you want about mobile advertising, but the fact of the matter is, that while Android developers are not successfully monetizing their apps by charging money for them, incorporating ads in apps is making developers boatloads of monthly revenue.
Of course, there are other options available such as search revenue, in app purchases, and virtual currency…
However, app discovery, which is a challenge many MANYcompanies are trying to overcome, has not yet been cracked. Well, our SDK did, but you might not have heard of it yet, you should check it out over here.
Putting aside the shameless plugs, Openspace, a relatively new player in the world of apps, is taking a unique angle on attacking the app discovery monster. First off, a little about the company. When it launched back in April, the declared model was to enable consumers to use apps they downloaded on one platform, across all other platforms. For example, you like Angry Birds on iPhone and decided to download the game. With Openspace’s license, you can play the game on other smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops, Mac or PC.
Side note, if you visit the site right now, along the top, you see the following text “Never search for apps again. Login to Facebook and Follow fun app collections that match your interests to be notified when new IOS apps are discovered or go on sale.” That seems kind of different from what they said at launch, so I am a little confused as to what problem Openspace is trying to solve, but let’s put that aside for a second.
The newest initiative from Openspace is, (are you ready for this one?) a physical retail store for apps! Nope, this is not a joke, or a publicity stunt, unless of course someone is willing to go as far as to portion off 300 square feet of his office to create a real life, brick and mortar app store, complete with “App Guru” staffers, just for a little coverage on tech blogs. This seems pretty legit, but are they for real?
So what does a physical app store look like and why does it exist? Good question, I thought you’d never ask!
At the new Openspace retail store, app gurus help customers discover new apps across various platforms. The store is organized in a way that allows consumers to find relevant apps, through what the brand calls “collections” of apps.
If you want to read more about this interesting new store, check out the TechCrunch post here, but let’s see if I can get this straight.
There are over a million published apps across all major mobile platforms, and people, mainly non-geeks don’t know where to start. I am going to take the extreme case of a senior citizen trying to find the best to do list app. You know what? I won’t even go that far. How about a principal of a day school trying to find the best app to create interactive workbooks on the iPad? By the way, that is a real case scenario, so if you know any such apps, please let me know on Twitter. I am @hilzfuld.
So how would such a person, who is not familiar with discovery solutions find such a specific app? Yes, there are many ways to find such apps using the social web (asking your Twitter followers for example or even Googling it) but let’s be honest, walking into a store and asking the representative a question is something many people are much more comfortable with.
So Openspace creates a store with apps categorized by different needs and fully staffed with app gurus to answer any question you might have? You know what? The idea is growing on me…
Like it or not, you have to hand it to them for thinking out of the box and coming up with a super creative approach to solving the problem of app discovery.
