Verizon Pitches New VCast App Store to Devs - Page 2

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Kyle Malady, vice president of product development and integration, said Verizon will open its network to developers to spur innovation.

"In the past, we locked it down, sometimes to our detriment…Our goal today is simply to open relevant network functions to allow developers to (do their job) and to foster the development of innovative applications," Malady said.

Verizon and RIM, happy together

RIM CEO Jim Balsillie put to rest any fears that the BlackBerry maker would balk at Verizon's app store being the only one pre-loaded on future handsets it sells.

Balsillie, citing how smartphones have grown from single-digits to 40 to 50 percent of its product mix in the past few years, wholeheartedly threw support behind the VCast App Store, saying it will work in conjunction with the BlackBerry App World.

He said that RIM realizes more download activity on Verizon than on any of its 500 networks worldwide, and views Verizon's app store as another "channel" for delivering BlackBerry apps.

In what was perhaps a veiled jab at Apple's boasts of over a billion and a half downloads and over 60,000 iPhone apps, Balsillie said quality and "stickiness" is what matters when it comes to being successful.

"I'm into stickiness, substance. Titillation is just phase one, we're about richer substance, not having 30 or 40 downloads from someone who never uses them again," Balsillie said. "The benchmark is stickiness, whether the app is free or not free, there's always a business model in these things so there's really no such thing as free, but that's O.K. I'd rather have 1,000 people love me than have 100,000 like me because you can build a business on love."

Verizon also promoted its membership in the nascent industry consortium, the Joint Innovation Lab, created to develop a single development platform for mobile widgets. Members include China Mobile, Vodafone and SoftBank, and Verizon signed on earlier this year. The organization works with other standards groups such as the Open Mobile Terminal Platform and OneAPI.