Compared to Apple’s App Store, Android Market does relatively little to localize content according to which country the store is being accessed from. And it’s seen by many as a bit of a Wild West, with loads of underrate, malfunctioning apps and a growing piracy problem. One might argue, therefore, that there is a need for someone to step in with a more “curated” offering.
But judging by comments posted online, users are not that chuffed by the operator-branded tabs that have suddenly appeared on their screen. Many see it as patronizing and dumb of operators to narrow down choice on behalf of users – especially since operators have a terrible track record of delivering what users want on the content and apps front.
The views of these outspoken users might not be representative of the whole. There might be a silent majority of occasional app users who feel less strongly about these things and might welcome some handholding by operators. But there is no getting away from the fact that operators do tend to mess things up when they try to take ownership of what content and apps are offered to end users.
Still, you can’t blame operators for wanting to retain relevance in the content and apps market by exploiting the opportunities that the Android platform offers them to wheel out their own offerings. After all, they have seen the power of their once mighty mobile content portals rapidly dwindle over the past three years with the phenomenal takeoff of over-the-top, native-app stores.
But where the operators are likely to make the greatest difference is with billing.