The rollout for Google Wave seems to be going a bit slower than anyone would like, but this hasn’t stopped Google from discussing its plans for the future. During the Google Wave GTUG (Google Technology User Group) meeting in London the company the company released one interesting detail that has the web buzzing.
According to The Next Web, Google has definite plans to create a Google Wave App Store, which will make it possible for developers to earn money for their developmental efforts. An app store gives us a glimpse of how Google plans to monetize the service, as they would more than likely take a cut of each app purchased.
Do you have a Google Wave account? Tell us.
The blog goes on speculate about the various possibilities of the Google Wave App Store:
“With an app store specifically for Google Wave however, the potential for something as great, if not greater then than the iPhone App Store is a distinct possibility. Already, independent software developers have built and tested Wave applications that handle such tasks as teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and multiplayer gaming, but while the Apple App Store sells software only for the iPhone and Touch, a Wave marketplace could stock in-Wave applications, along with desktop applications, browser extensions and a world of devices, from laptops, phones, tablets and more with built in Wave support.”
A Google Wave App Store does make sense, but the one thing you need to be successful is users… which is something that Google Wave is currently lacking. Google only invited 100,000 people to Wave last month, while others are slowly receiving invites.
Just to give you a basis for comparison, the iPhone App Store, which is the gold standard, currently has well over 40 million iPhone/iPod Touch owners and over 100,000 apps.
Google Wave users shouldn’t be anticipating an app store anytime soon, but it’s just something they should keep in the back of their minds. Could you see yourself paying for a Google Wave app? Let us know.
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