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Would you be interested in developing and selling ME apps through an "App Store"?

Yes
35% (141 votes)
Maybe, it depends on the details
31% (126 votes)
No, I prefer a different distribution model
6% (25 votes)
No, I'm not interested in developing ME apps
27% (108 votes)
Something else (please comment)
1% (3 votes)
Total votes: 403

Good, but please make it open

A good architecture should permit federated shops and not only a centralized one. In that way shop mantainers could join businesses and share % of revenues keeping applications on their own sites (or not). The root shop could then expose a search engine capable to search through the federation and act as a quality assurance (or validator). So, please think about an API set to expose to the world.

Why stop there?

I would also be interested in App stores for Swing and Web apps. Giving users an easy way to either pay for or donate money to your software has to be the least interesting part of virtually every piece of software.

Why stop there?

I'm not sure a Swing/webapp store may have success. We should compare a JavaMe store to similar models like iTunes or the iPhone Appstore, where they make money from the mass of monkey customers and not only from geeks
This is the place where the real $$$ come from.

Why stop there?

+1 Yes, a Java App store would be great.

provisioning

The OTA (Over the Air) provisioning should have more stringent requirements for manufacturers to guarantee a sufficiently user friendly install experience of MIDP applications. Some current implementations are really horrible in this respect. For example some devices require users to enter the password two times during the install and if that's not enough the phone asks the user to give an installation directory. As if the user would be interested in typing some unnecessary directory name on a small device. Further, in this example the phone asks wether to install the software on the phone or on the memory stick. After the many many dialog displays requiring stupid information the user feels completely frustrated. Software insallation is not that difficult even on desktop computers! So the OTA spec should state at least some minimum usability requirements. That would make things better for us all. If MIDP wants to conquer the world it should not rely only on manufacturers good will to create usable implementations.

Deployment Scenario

I think the difficulty of deployment is the number one issue facing Java ME. The operator/manufacturer signature process complexity and the lack of a simple distribution process make this all very difficult. A central verified repository and provisioning solution that works with operators globally can turn small development shops into a reality in the Java ME world.