Another GPhone Differentiator: More Than One Place To Buy And Sell Software (GOOG)

One more difference between Apple's iPhone 'GPhones' running Google's Android operating system: There’s already more than one place to get software.

While iPhone owners can only buy official software from Apple's official iTunes App Store, there are already at least three stores distributing software for Android phones. Besides the official Google Android "Market," there’s OnlyAndroid (from MobiHand), and one from Handango.

The big difference between the "Market" app and the others: It sits directly on your phone and installs software onto your phone by itself, while the others require you go through some hoops, like finding their stores via a Web browser and receiving a text message with a link to the file.

Why might developers invest time into putting their apps on more than one store? For now, unofficial stores are the only places they can charge for their software -- Google won’t let them do that until next year when its commerce system is set up.

Google's store will probably win out in the long run, and it's easy to see how this multi-store setup might confuse some people. But choice is almost never a bad thing.

See Also:
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Google's Android 'GPhone' App Store Missing Some Big Names
What Is Motorola's "Android Social Networking SmartPhone"?