The Good e-Reader APP Store was one of our first major initiatives of 2012 to give all of our readers a place to download Google Android and Blackberry Playbook Apps. The entire ecosystem has grown in leaps and bounds and we are pleased to report that today we have hit 10,000 apps in our ecosystem!
The main reason we started our app store was because of all the daily emails we would get from many of our loyal readers. A large number of people found that they had purchased an Android tablet that did not come with Google Play. We started our app store to give people an alternative that works anywhere in the world and does not hinder your downloading just because you don’t live in a specific country.
We started the Blackberry Playbook section in our store because of a firmware update that RIM released very early in the year. This allowed customers to install Android apps on their devices, but through a complicated process. RIM apps work on the BAR format, and Android apps need to be converted from the traditional APK file to the new BAR format. This results in us having to physically convert and test each app on our development Playbooks to ensure that they work and 1/10 apps actually work on the Playbook because of the native libraries.
Reaching 10,000 apps was a personal milestone for everyone working at Good e-Reader. We may not have the hundreds of thousands other app markets have, but we do have an advantage. Our Android App Client and Playbook App Client has NO advertising of any kind and gives advanced features most of the other indies don’t give you. Our web-based version is also accessible and our entire ecosystem was designed to be free! We don’t offer any pirated apps and we make sure we are focused on quality, not quantity.
Many companies, such as SkyTex Technologies, have licensed our app store and carry it on their entire line of tablets. 2013 will be a huge growth year for us, and we intend on securing at least five new companies to bundle their new lines of Android devices with our own app store.
I would like to thank everyone who has found value using the Good e-Reader App Store! We have had our ups and downs since first launching, and in December alone we had over 3.8 million visitors to the site.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.