Mozilla Marketplace, a new store for applications designed to run across any HTML5-enabled device or platform, is about to open for developer submissions.
Mozilla has announced plans for its own app store, part of its web apps platform. Mozilla Marketplace, will open for developers to submit web-based apps at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, and will open up to consumers later this year.
It will enable developers to write one app based on open web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript and CSS which will be able to run across multiple devices and platforms.
If you are an app developer interested in distributing and monetizing your app across device and platform silos, you should submit your app to the Mozilla Marketplace. Submitting your app will reserve your app name and give your app the chance to be featured in the launch later this year.
Which is a little bit over the top in PR speak, but I think means "write an app that runs anywhere, because if it is HTML5, JavaScript, CSS-based then we will sell it for you."
It also reports that new APIs will add key capabilities to the Mozilla Labs Apps platform.
These include a new identity system that will
"put users in control of their content, tying apps to the user and not the device or platform".
That is, the new APIs are about controlling the distribution of your app and about not tying the app to a particular device but to the user.
It isn't clear from this is the user will be able to run multiple copies of the app one per device or whether the programmer can control the number of copies. It is a bit like treating an app as if it was a Kindle ebook which can be read on as many devices as you like.
Mozilla's determination to give content owners, operators and service providers a direct connection to their customers, plus open and flexible billing options, sounds like welcome news for app developers. The only downside is the limitation of the HTML5 platform. It may run on everything but it is still not able to match the flexibility of a native app.
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