Verizon Wireless quietly introduced its V Cast Apps store on Monday, initially rolling out the service across selected BlackBerry smartphones beginning with the Storm2. According to a Verizon spokesperson, V Cast Apps "should start appearing on Storm2s over the next few weeks." Speaking last week with FierceDeveloper during the CTIA Wireless 2010 event in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless executive director of applications, content and business development Leroy Williams said the storefront will open with about 300 applications, although "that number will ramp up very quickly." Williams added that thousands of additional applications are now awaiting testing and certification.
V Cast Apps was first announced last July at the maiden Verizon Developer Community Event and originally slated to go live in Q4 2009. Williams said he was "humbled but not apologetic" in regards to the belated launch, explaining the process of building an app store proved a significant challenge but that Verizon Wireless wanted to guarantee all the pieces were in place before officially going live.
"We wanted to extend and expand our relationship with our customers and the developer community, and the expectation is that we will deliver a consistent, high-quality experience. We intended to honor that expectation," Williams explained, adding that Verizon came close to introducing VCast Apps in December. "We decided ‘No, we're gonna do this right,'" he said. "That extra time has allowed us to refine and sharpen what we need to deliver."
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