The Top 7 Android Third Party App Stores
In order to understand the concept of third party app stores, it makes perfect sense to try and understand first of all, as to what these third party app stores are. A third party app store is a store which is not owned by the owner of the operating system, which means that Google Play has no control over these third party app stores. Users can download apps and games from these stores without any restrictions.
Google Play has always been the most sought after app store for Android app developers, as it is the only official Android app store which is owned by Google. But the problem with Google Play is that it has become overcrowded and distinguishing and finding an app with mediocre ratings from the heap of millions of apps at the store proves difficult. So App developers head towards these third party app stores to market their apps.
Users have always faced malware related risks while downloading apps from such third party app stores. Since these third party app stores are not official, Google always tries to undermine their importance with its iron hand and ensuring that key features of many apps do not work without the services provided by Google Play. But whatever the pros and cons might be, there cannot be a doubt that more and more app developers are queuing up these third party apps, increasing their popularity.
China is turning out to be the biggest market for such third party app stores, as Google Play is restricted over there. Another reason why app developers prefer these third party app stores is that these stores are much less restrictive in comparison to official stores. They even allow users to download apk files directly on Android devices, which can be installed and transferred to another device without any difficulty. This practice is totally restricted on Google Play.
Developers also feel that these third party app stores also help them to reach out to newer audience, which do not exist on Goggle Play conventionally. Many such third party app stores like the Samsung Galaxy Apps have their own audience, as these app stores come preloaded on all Samsung Galaxy devices. Many third party app stores offer better deals to app developers than the conventional 70/30 split offered by Google Play.
Let us look at the top 7 third party Android app stores
1. Amazon App store: Most of the stuff at the Amazon app store is similar to what you will find on Google Play. Games like Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds and Shazam can be found on the Amazon app store. However one unique difference which sets the Amazon apart from the rest is that if offers a try-before-you- buy option for users. It also has a system of reviews, rating and screenshots of apps.
2. Samsung Galaxy apps: Formerly it was known as Samsung Apps and come preloaded on all Samsung Galaxy devices and smart phones. The store offers Samsung apps as well as third party apps for user download and is a strong competitor of Google Play. The store is also a platform for selling Samsung gear devices.
3. Get Jar App store: Get Jar app store features highly on the popularity list of third party app stores. It has recorded billions of app downloads and has a million app developers registered with it. It is one of the largest platforms for featuring and showcasing apps. Get jar features a rewards and currency program for rewarding users for app recommendations. Users are able to earn upgrades, theme downloads and unlock features by using a virtual currency called GetJar gold. It is by far the biggest and the most popular app store after Google Play.
4. AndSpot app store: AndSpot app store uses social network platforms for helping users to identify the apps which they require. It uses recommendation, feeds and profiles instead of a conventional search for finding apps through various categories. It also has a unique discussion platform for discussing about apps and their features. It offers the choice of sharing apps to users and offers a good percentage for app sales.
5. SlideME: It is one of the oldest Android app stores and existed even before the inception of Google Play. It is installed on almost half of all Android devices which do not have Google Play. SlideME charges 20% rate on apps with a range of available payment options. Surprisingly many app developers prefer SlideME over Google Play. There is a good chance that an app may earn more downloads on SlideME in comparison to Google Play.
6. 1Mobile Market: This is one app store which is popular due to the fact that it only accepts free apps. The huge user traffic on this store is an indicator of the same. A developer can upload his apps on the store for free only if they are free of malware. As per the claims of the store, it is installed in 100 million devices and had 800,000 listed apps. User reviews are used for rating apps.
7. Mobile9: It is a social network of apps with 40 million users who share and comment on installed apps. It publishes app free of charge. The store boasts of 200 million downloads per month from 30,000 developers.
