Verizon to relaunch its Android app store

By Mark Milian, CNN September 13, 2011 -- Updated 1251 GMT (2051 HKT) | Filed under: Mobile

Verizon is attempting to woo software developers to a new office in San Francisco.

San Francisco (CNN) -- Verizon Wireless is rebooting its application store for smartphones after a lackluster first attempt.

The new storefront, called Verizon Apps, will be presented for free to Verizon customers with Droid phones. It will coexist with Google's Android Market, which comes preloaded on all of its phones.

Verizon already offers apps that are exclusively available to its subscribers, such as one with live video of National Football League games.

The U.S. cellular giant is set to introduce the new mobile software marketplace at its Las Vegas conference for developers on Tuesday. Verizon and Chomp, which provides the search engine for the service, have been briefing reporters on the news.

The two companies partnered in May on a feature that allows people to search Verizon's current store, called V Cast Apps, along with Google's Market. The separate V Cast store, like many others for Android, never gained significant traction. (Verizon began offering the iPhone in February, but Apple does not allow third-party companies to operate competing app stores.)

Verizon opened an office here last month where software developers are welcome to come code mobile apps and test them on the carrier's hardware. In an interview during the opening, Kyle Malady, a Verizon technology executive, acknowledged shortcomings with its V Cast market but said there is still room for alternative storefronts. Verizon will attract software partners by guaranteeing promotion for their products, he said.

Even the big mobile app developers, including Electronic Arts, complain that some of their apps fail to get adequate exposure on other digital stores, Malady said. "Their apps get lost," he said.