Mobile and portable app store roundup

In an effort to make traversing the various digital distribution platforms easier for developers, we’ve compiled a comparison of some key areas below.

Due to the nature of this article, some of the information below is likely to end up out of date (this why we haven’t listed the exact total number of apps for each store). If you notice an error, please get in touch so we can update the article. The article is accurate as of August 2009.

Launch dates

iTunes App Store: July 10, 2008
Google Android Marketplace: October 22, 2008
Palm App Catalog: June 6, 2009 (still considered by Palm to be in beta)
Nokia Ovi: August 28, 2008
BlackBerry App World: April 1, 2009
Windows Mobile Marketplace: October 5, 2009
PlayStation Store: November 2006 (PS3), September 2007 (PC), October 2008 (PSP)

Devices

iTunes App Store: iPhone and iPod touch
Google Android Marketplace: All Android OS devices
Palm App Catalog: Pre and Pixi
Nokia Ovi: Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices
BlackBerry App World: BlackBerry devices running OS 4.2 and later
Windows Mobile Marketplace: All Windows Mobile 6.5 OS devices
PlayStation Store: PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable devices

Developer fee

iTunes App Store: USD$99 per year with unlimited submissions
Google Android Marketplace: USD$25 initial sign up
Palm App Catalog: USD$99 per year, then USD$50 per app
Nokia Ovi: €50 initial sign up
BlackBerry App World: USD$200 per 10 submissions (updates count as a submission)
Windows Mobile Marketplace: USD$99 per year for 5 apps, then USD$99 per app
PlayStation Store: PSP development kit is USD$1500 (comes with hardware)

Developer revenue

iTunes App Store: 70% of app price
Google Android Marketplace: 70% of app price
Palm App Catalog: 70% of app price
Nokia Ovi: 70% of app price
BlackBerry App World: 80% of app price
Windows Mobile Marketplace: 70% of app price
PlayStation Store: Not sure (haven’t been able to find info)

Number of apps

iTunes App Store: Over 100,000 (148apps metrics)
Google Android Marketplace: Over 10,000
Palm App Catalog: Hundreds
Nokia Ovi: Thousands
BlackBerry App World: Thousands
Windows Mobile Marketplace: Tens
PlayStation Store: Hundreds

App approval to be listed on app store

iTunes App Store: Approval by Apple required
Google Android Marketplace: Apps can be listed without approval from Google
Palm App Catalog: Approval by Palm required
Nokia Ovi: Approval by Nokia required
BlackBerry App World: Approval by RIM required
Windows Mobile Marketplace: Approval by Microsoft required
PlayStation Store: Approval by Sony required

Device screen resolutions

iTunes App Store: 320x480 (iPhone and iPod touch)
Google Android Marketplace: 8 resolutions from 240x320 to 480x854
Palm App Catalog: 320x480 (pre) and 320x400 (Pixi)
Nokia Ovi: Multiple resolutions from 176x208 to 360x640
BlackBerry App World: Multiple resolutions from 240x260 to 360x480
Windows Mobile Marketplace: 17 resolutions from 176x220 to 800x480
PlayStation Store: 480x272 (PlayStation Portable devices)

Locations(s) of the store

iTunes App Store: Device (App Store app), desktop (iTunes) and some web functionality
Google Android Marketplace: On the device and web
Palm App Catalog: On the device and web
Nokia Ovi: On the device and web
BlackBerry App World: On the device and web
Windows Mobile Marketplace: On the device
PlayStation Store: On the device and web