Motorola planning own app store?

Motorola DROID

Motorola has played down reports that it is planning on launching an Android-based app store anytime soon.

Website Android Me has posted screen grabs supposedly from the new app store dubbed Shop4Apps. The live version of the URL has since been taken down.

According to the report, the app store will be accessible via both desktop or mobile devices or through a Motorola Media Link (MML). It claims the store will have a number of user-friendly features such as a 'MyLocker' section for download history and automatic update alerts.

However, Motorola is keeping tight-lipped. "We have not announced an application store and have nothing to share," it said in a statement issued to IT PRO.

Motorola has just launched its second Android-based handset in the UK. The first, the DEXT, was launched earlier this year, while the Milestone - known as the DROID in the US - hit UK shores earlier this month.

There are already reports surfacing that the Milestone has been so popular it has sold out, although Motorola won't provide details.

"It is Motorola's policy to not comment on sales or forecasts. However, we are delighted with the consumer and market response to MILESTONE since its availability in Germany, Italy, France and the UK," a statement said.

"We are confident that Android is key to our future handset strategy and the response to both MILESTONE and DEXT leave us well placed for the continued roll out of our Android-based portfolio globally throughout 2010." Click here for our review of the DROID.

Maggie Holland

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.