Microsoft Blasts into the App Store Game

“There is fragmentation; that's just the dynamics of this industry, which is growing quickly and exploding,” Lopez said. “We understand that for developers it's a decision they need to make. There are seven out there; which do we invest in? It's costly to invest in lots. That is why we are leveraging our experience on the PC side and mimicking the developer model with the PC.”

Donovan likened the app store movement to the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) craze of a few years back. The jury is still out on whether app stores will go the way of the MVNO. But if any company is to match Apple's success, they must similarly energize developers.

“Every developer cites Apple as having a superb [software development kit],” Donovan said. “The device itself had lots of novel capabilities, and the SDK provided ways to hook into those.” The accelerometer is the best example, he added. Also notable is that of the 50,000 companies or individuals developing for Apple, 60% had never developed for any other mobile platform. App stores like Apple's and potentially Microsoft's make the developers, not the carriers, central to the business model, Donovan said.

“The thing that Apple has demonstrated,” he said, “and their competitors are trying to also, is if you exercise a certain amount of control over the software and hardware and you can open it up in a way that galvanizes both individual developers and companies that want to develop apps, it is really easy for them to provide a business model that floats.“