Sony Ericsson accepting submissions to PlayNow arena

Sony Ericsson is now accepting submissions for their PlayNow arena market place and for their established app service, Fun & Downloads. At first, the joint venture is inviting developers for Java ME and the Symbian OS, which combined will give access to an installed base of more than 200 million Sony Ericsson handsets. Later this year, the process will expand to other platforms. Christopher David, head of Developer and Partner Engagement at Sony Ericsson, said that, “There is huge consumer interest in applications that make communication a more personal and enhanced entertainment experience."

In other application market place news, JBB research says that Apple might be facing some tough competition in the future from Symbian. As we reported, the Symbian Foundation, in October, will start Symbian Horizon, a unified online store for Symbian based devices regardless of the manufacturer. The researcher says that Symbian's online store will reduce the fragmentation that currently exists as it will be able to support app stores from both carriers and phone manufacturers like Nokia's Ovi Store, AT&T's Media Mall and the Samsung Applications Store. The research firm's theory is that if Apple's App Store remains a closed system and competitors become interoperable, there could be some downside to the Cupertino based company. In releasing their most recent earnings report this past week, Apple stated that over 1.5 billion downloads have been made from the App Store, where there are 65,000 available apps and 100,000 registered developers.

source: WirelessWeek via Phonescoop