This week, Vodafone unveiled its app store initiative. There has been a lot of buzz around it and more details about the store became available:

Billing
Vodafone customers can buy applications via their regular phone bill. It is very likely that you will be able to buy applications with one single click, creating a low treshold for consumers. This also enables micro payments and in-application billing, something none of the existing app stores are offering yet. Vodafone customers that do not have a subscription but use pre-paid will also be able to buy applications through their pre-paid account.

Revenue share
The revenue share for developers is said to be 70%, in line with most other app stores. This is way better than what developers are currently receiving from selling their apps through most operator portals.

Location
Developers will get access to location data from the Vodafone network. In-dept details are still undisclosed. This might enable developers to make location aware applications for consumers who do not have a GPS phone. Downside is that you have to taylor your applocation specifically for Vodafone to do this. Vodafone customers will get control over how and when their location information will be accessible.

Launch
Vodafone aims to launch the store by the end of 2009, targeting western Europe initially, with Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK getting the earliest access (via talkandroid.com).

Platforms
It is not certain for which platforms the Vodafone store will be available. Looking at Vodafone’s worldwide support for the different platforms, it is very likely it will support at least, Java, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Widgets. Whether Vodafone will also support the Blackberry platform is not yet known, however, since Vodafone is a major Blackberry provider in many countries, Blackberry might be supported in spite of RIM having its own ‘Blackberry App World’. We are curious to see what will happen with Android also. Vodafone is launching the Android G2 in several countries. Since it is possible to install apps on Android outside of the Android Market, Vodafone could potentially create it’s own Android offering in its store.

We added the Vodafone app store to our app store overview.

See the full Vodafone press release here.