Google to Launch Chrome App Store in Time for HTC Tablet in November
Google plans to launch its Chrome App Store in October, Google executives told a German Gamescom audience in Germany this week in August. This store will essentially be Google’s iTunes, supporting devices like the HTC Tablet running Chrome OS, due out in November.
The HTC device is said to have a relationship with Verizon. This is critical as most of the ‘big iron’ in the tablet will be in the cloud and apps may not be able to run without being connected to the Internet. Questions remain on whether or not there will be caps on the data plans like AT&T did to iPhone users, but this may be the new normal.
Again, like Apple, Google will be opening up the opportunity for developers to write programs and apps for Chrome and Chrome OS in exchange for a cut of each sale, rumored to be at 5%. The app store would be available to users of its Chrome browser and the Chrome OS, which means the potential market is much bigger than just tablet PC users running the Chrome OS as Chrome can be ran on any computer. It will be interesting to see both how the store performs and how people like using mobile devices that only work when connected to the Internet, ala cloud computing-style. I personally use a HTC Droid, which mostly only works when connected, so maybe it will be okay.