Everything you need to know about the AppStore!
Read on…
The Past
The app store concept became popular with the rise of smartphones and tablets. The announcement of the first iPhone was a giant leap towards the evolution of mobile apps.
July 2008 is when everything changed: Apple’s App Store went online. Apple released about 552 apps, with 135 of them being free to download. In just one week, iPhone users downloaded about 10,000,000 (ten million) apps! You can see the growth of the apple app store since 2008 in Fig 1
WHAT IS APP STORE?
- An app store refers to an online shop where customers can purchase and download various software applications.
- App stores are cloud-based i.e. users access the content via the free client software or a Web browser.
- All major mobile operating system vendors, including Apple, Google, BlackBerry, and Amazon, run their own app stores(Shown in Fig 2).
Example: Google Play-Most popular app store
PROMINENT APP STORE
WHAT IS THIRD-PARTY APP?
An application that is provided by a vendor other than the manufacturer of the device.
There are also several third-party app stores in operation :
Example: ios comes with a built-in web browser Safari. However, you can install other browsers such as Firefox and Chrome. In the context of iOS, Firefox, and Chrome are third-party apps.
There are different situations where you may run into the third-party app.
- Apps created for official app stores by vendors other than Google (Google Play Store) or Apple (Apple App Store) and that follow the development criteria required by those app stores are third-party apps.
- Apps offered through unofficial third-party app stores or websites that are created by parties not affiliated with the device or operating system are also third-party apps.
- An app that connects with another service (or its app) to either provide enhanced features or access profile information is a third-party app.
POPULAR THIRD-PARTY APPS
There are two Android families.
1. Open Handset Alliance (OHA)- Google-certified version of the Android operating system where manufacturers need to follow Google’s terms & conditions.
2. Android Open Source Project (AOSP)- open-source version of Android that does not include Google Mobile Services.
However, the most used system is AOSP
SO, Let’s dive into AOSP!
AOSP ARCHITECTURE
THE FOUR LAYERS:
- Applications(App Layer):
At the application layer, the application is written which has to be installed on this layer only. Examples of applications are Games, Messages, Contacts, etc. - Android framework: The android libraries which dispatch messages via binder to system service, which uses JNI to call down to GLUE libraries.
Framework includes:
- Activity Manager: It manages the activity life-cycle and the activity stack.
- Telephony Manager: It provides access to telephony services as related subscriber information, such as phone numbers.
- View System: It builds the user interface by handling the views and layouts.
- Location manager: It finds the device’s geographic location.
3.Native Layer: There are native services and libraries
4.Kernel: Linux customized for the platform, they include :
- Security: The Linux kernel handles the security between the application and the system.
- Memory Management: It efficiently handles memory management thereby providing the freedom to develop our apps.
- Process Management: It manages the process well, allocates resources to processes whenever they need them.
- Network Stack: It effectively handles network communication.
- Driver Model: It ensures that the application works. Hardware manufacturers can build their drivers into the Linux build.
WHAT IS AOSP?
- The Android Open Source Project(AOSP) — It is a free open-source operating system. It means that everyone can download Android sources and create their own customized versions of an operating system.
- The AOSP is free to download, free to alter, free to build into a product that can power just about anything.
To put it simply: Clean transparent look of android from Google.
No bloatware!
WHY AOSP?
- Benefits of AOSP, the operator could potentially have a cheaper STB device and can control the user experience. It also gives the operators better control of apps and services being used on the device through an operator-controlled app store.
What is vApps?
On-Demand App Store For Android AOSP Devices
- Designed for operators looking to extend and monetize STB offering,vApps is a custom app and game store for advanced 2-way set-top boxes
- Complete cloud-based SAAS app store for AOSP set-top boxes, TVs, and Mobile devices
vApps has 2 important portals :
- Provider Portal
- Publisher Portal
To make it simple to understand, here is the flow of the portals :
Features of vApps
- App Store with Android Client, Publisher Portal, and Provider Portal with branding
- Evolved App Management workflow with app upload, approval/rejection, publish, unpublished, version update options
- Automated app verification & Digital rights protection(DRM)
- Support for PAID and FREE Apps.
- Multiple Payment Gateway support
- Detailed metering, dashboard, metrics, and reports
- 24x7 maintenance and monitoring
WHY vApps?
- vApps enables you to create apps easily, efficiently, and cost-effectively. They give you immense opportunity to customize your app and add the desired features effortlessly.
- Scalable and Reliable SAAS Built on AWS cloud and lambda Accurate app control with remote wipe, force install, force update options
FINAL THOUGHTS
Our life is dependent on apps and we love it, right?😍
Today mobile apps are being dominated by iOS and Android mobile operating systems. The major app stores are Apple’s iOS App Store and Google’s Google Play store. Because of the Android open-source approach android apps can be installed not just from the Google Play store but from a variety of stores.
