Intel AppUp Store Prepares For Launch

Intel’s AppUp app store for MeeGo and Windows operating systems is now out of beta, nine months after being introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Renee James, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Software and Solutions Group, said during her keynote at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) that about 450,000 users had popped into the AppUp store since it went into beta last January.

In addition, the AppUp store and the Atom Developer Programme, introduced at the IDF event in 2009, are being combined. The programme will now be renamed the AppUp Developer Programme.

Dixons Will Fly The AppUp flag

The online applications store can be accessed via Best Buy’s website and, later this year, from Dixons in the UK and Croma in India. Asus has already announced its own version of the AppUp centre, called the Asus App Store which will be available on every Asus netbook starting in October. Intel’s store will also come preloaded on netbooks from Samsung later this year.

Barnes & Noble has said that it will put an app for its Nook e-reader on the AppUp store.

“We are open for developers and customers alike,” James said.

There are currently more than 800 applications in the store, and about 30 percent of them are free, according to Intel. For all purchased applications, Intel offers a 24-hour try-before-you-buy programme.

In addition, Intel and Adobe announced a collaboration to enable developers to build Adobe AIR netbooks applications for the AppUp centre, and that the portal will support Adobe AIR runtimes. Intel officials said more than 100 Adobe AIR applications will be available on the AppUp Store by the end of the month.

The AppUp news was the main point of the keynote, in which James focused on how software can offer a “great user experience”, with much of the concentration falling on the MeeGo operating system. James said the combination of the OS with Intel’s x86 Atom processor platform gives notebook and netbook users an experience they cannot find elsewhere. However, she also noted that MeeGo will be found in other Intel-based devices.

James demonstrated a number of MeeGo devices, including a MeeGo-based smart TV from Amino Communications, a media phone from Gemtek, and a tablet called the WeTab which will ship later this month.

James was asked why Intel is bothering with developing MeeGo when there are a number of other operating environments. She replied that there is still room for another OS and that MeeGo was a particularly strong option.