GetJar moves to reinvent app store model

Mobile apps store GetJar, second only in size to the Apple App Store, has teamed up with games developer Glu Mobile in a pilot project giving premium content away for free in a bid to drive a new business model. GetJar reckons developers will happily pay to promote their content instead of paying licence fees to develop free apps for a certain platform.

The pilot program will operate over a two month period, with GetJar giving away one piece of Glu content for free every two weeks.

The app store said that scale is essential in this model, scale that only comes with over one billion downloads to date across 200 countries, and nearly 100million downloads per month. “GetJar doesn’t need to rely on the revenue from the sale of apps – instead it relies on the sponsored app placements on its site, which allows it to then buy premium content from publishers and distribute this content to consumers for free,” said Ilja Laurs, founder and CEO for GetJar.

GetJar will use revenues from the sponsored app placements to licence premium content and give it away for free, which in turn will drive traffic. “This revolutionary new business model will fundamentally change the app industry economics and give consumers access to many more apps at a lower cost or in GetJar’s case – free,” said Laurs.