China’s Taobao.com To Launch Software Application Store This Week

Chinese Internet retailer Taobao.com will launch a software application store on January 15, 2010, marking a big leap for its Taobao Open Platform for online businesses.

With the launch of the store, Taobao.com will also announce information related to this new service, including its business system, operating model, cooperation methods with developers, and supporting policies. At the same time, the first 30 products, which are the winners of an application design and development competition previously held by Taobao.com, will be opened to consumers on the same day.

This new store is reportedly a sales platform for independent software vendors. The prices of products sold in the store are set by software vendors and will be checked by Taobao.com. The two parties will share the profits from the software applications.