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Sony Ericsson takes on Apple App Store, offers fast apps approval system

Sony Ericsson is touring the world’s developers to rustle up support for application-building for its devices, and is promising to beat Apple in the creation of a short and transparent Apps approval process.

The company’s head of developer and partner engagement, Christopher David, has promised to create a special approval system for what he terms “tier one” developers. This free scheme promises to get freshly-made apps to market fast, most crucially promising to vet newly-submitted apps “within five days”.

And while Apple offers an App for everything, Sony Ericsson hopes to offer a more moderate experience, he said, “We’re not looking for dozens of Sudoko games, but for apps that enhance the Sony Ericsson mobile experience.”

The company opened up its app marketplace to developers during summer, the store’s now available in 69 countries.

While the promise of less competition between similar apps and a fast approvals process may look good on paper, the company’s vision isn’t as inclusive as Apple is attempting to be. In order to offer their apps, developers must first submit their concepts to Sony Ericsson Labs.

Strangely, though, Sony Ericsson is also demanding a 30 per cent slice of revenue (as Apple does).

Also worth reflecting, while Apple already offers 75.000 apps, Sony Ericsson has just 150 available now with 400 more “in the pipeline”. So the company basically doesn’t need a huge team of approvers in order to maintain the store. “We’re going for quality over quantity,” David said.

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