Appia is not an app store. Its a marketing platform, bringing the content from over 32,000 talented developers and content creators to the mobile application storefronts of 40 partners around the world. The Appia Developer Program provides a one stop shop for developers to market and distribute their wares, and the Appia Commerce Platform delivers that content to consumers in over 200 countries and over 2,000 different mobile phones
Appia, formerly known as PocketGear, has raised $10 million in venture capital from Venrock. The company is aspiring to build the largest independent marketplace of applications and to become a white-label solution for third parties, such as recent customers, like Opera Software and Mexico’s largest operator Telcel.
Competitors include native app stores, such as Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market. But it also competes against independent stores, like GetJar and Amazon’s AppStore, which launched last week.