By Terence LEE | SGE
Canadian company Mobiroo has launched in Malaysia an ‘All you can App’ service, essentially a Spotify for apps, through a partnership with Celcom, a telco with 12.4M subscribers.
Available for a limited time on Android phones at a monthly fee of RM 9.90 (USD 3), the third-party app store lets users download and utilize as many apps as they want. The platform, which has over 700 titles and growing, comes with a free trial period and no lock-in commitment. Users can start using Mobiroo by downloading the app directly through the website.
The more popular apps on the platform include Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots, Worms 2: Armageddon, and Mini Motor Racing.
“We have targeted Asia as our initial launch territory based on the mature Android market that already exists, as well as a huge appetite to download mobile content in large quantities,” said Vinay Chopra, founder and CEO of Mobiroo.
The company’s move follows an announcement this year by the Malaysian government to grant a RM200 (USD 62) smartphone rebate to the country’s youths. Malaysia is the first market of expansion in Mobiroo’s Asia-Pacific blueprint. It will be announcing other regional partners shortly.
With feature phone users in Asia-Pacific fast transitioning to Android due to its low cost, Mobiroo could have an opportunity to gain traction among price-sensitive customers.
However, the hesitance of Asian consumers to pay for apps, due in part to low purchasing power, could be an obstacle to the app store’s success.
Potential users might also be turned off by Mobiroo’s digital rights management (DRM) because it forbids usage of downloaded apps should they discontinue subscribing to the service.
Quantity and quality of apps are also issues: 700 isn’t a lot, which means there’s still plenty of great apps that are not on Mobiroo yet.
That is why the company is actively seeking developers to join the platform, which provides distribution, analytics and monetization functionality. The DRM is automatically added to the app.
ນີ ‘All you can App’ service Mobiroo launches in Malaysia for Celcom subscribers ທີ່ທໍາອິດໃນ SGE.