Taobao invests RMB10m to boost app store

By: Adaline Lau, China – Beijing
Published: Jan 18, 2010
http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/17313

Here's the link of  online Taobao Application store: http://fuwu.taobao.com/service/search.htm?target_user=1

Beijing - Taobao, one of the largest online shopping portals in China, has launched a Taobao app store and committed RMB10 million to fund independent software developers on the platform.

The Taobao app store will offer tools for sellers and buyers, extensions for Taobao community sites, tools for product recommendation and mobile phone applications.

According to a Taobao representative, its app store mobile applications will be accessible on all types of handsets.

Sellers on Taobao will be able to use the applications to improve their business management and back end operations while buyers would be given tools to improve their shopping experience.

Wang Wenbin, vice president for Taobao Open Platform (TOP), said "The Taobao app store is a convenient channel for developers, investors and customers to interact directly and it will ultimately allow the market to evaluate the independent developers'
creations."

In October 2009, a TOP fund with an annual investment of RMB10 million was set up to encourage innovation among independent developers following a competition that saw more than 25 000 software developers participated.

The top three winners will receive a funding of RMB5 million while the other RMB5 million will be shared among the top 30 contestants whose first batch of applications are now available in the store.