Handango and PocketGear has suffered as manufacturers have increasingly engaged directly with developers in providing distribution channels (effectively cutting out the middle man). Handango is, technically, the older company and has raised significant amounts of capital (e.g. Handango had a $60 million B round in 2006 and a further $9.5 million in a C round in 2008). PocketGear was spun out of Motricity (which was founded in 1999) and raised large amounts of capital in 2008, but can trace its history back to earlier third party app stores. It is backed by VC's Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group.
The two store groupings have a history of mixed relations with developers. They typically charge up to twice the commission of manufacturer-run application stores (60% versus 30%) which has generated ill-will, especially amongst smaller developers. However they also provide significant cross-manufacturer and cross-operator reach, which has simplified the distribution equation for many developers.
In their early years, both Handango and PocketGear looked to build direct to consumer brands (Handango.com and SymbianGear.com). Both companies also provided branded store fronts for developers to use on their own websites. While this part of the business remains in place today, the importance of partnership with handset manufacturers and operators has increased significantly. PocketGear and Handango run application stores on behalf of, or provide content to, a large number of operators (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) and manufacturer (Samsung, LG, RIM) branded application stores.
The road ahead for the various distribution channels and developer entry points have not been disclosed. We would anticipate that both Handango and PocketGear properties will remain open for the foreseeable future. However, it seems likely that the submission process for developers is likely to be streamlined to a single point of entry in due course. Moreover, PocketGear's role as a content aggregator and provider, rather than a direct to consumer brand, is likely to become a more prominent part of the business.
From the press release
PocketGear, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Handango, the leading provider of smartphone applications globally, creating the world's largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles that are available for discovery and download by the more than 4 billion consumers worldwide using Android©, Symbian OS©, BlackBerry©, Windows Mobile©, Palm©, Linux, and Java© powered mobile devices. PocketGear and Handango are the two largest independent app stores and combined to date have generated over $400 million in mobile application revenues from customers living in more than 175 countries and using over 2,000 unique mobile devices.
With the acquisition, PocketGear's mobile app marketplace has been expanded to connect more than 32,000 developers in the PocketGear Developer Program with over 40 PocketGearpowered storefront and distribution partners, including 4 of the world’s top 5 handset manufacturers, 4 of the top 5 mobile operators in the US, 3 of the top 10 mobile operators globally, and leading media and ecommerce companies including Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion, Microsoft, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. The reach of PocketGear's direct to consumer app stores has also expanded to include the largest independent app store, Handango.com, joining PocketGear’s app store network that includes PocketGear.com, Mobile2Day.de, SymbianGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com, Smartphone.net, and PalmGear.com. In addition, more than 1,000 app developers are now using PocketGear’s developer storefront solutions to market and sell their mobile apps directly to consumers from their own websites and other marketing channels.
Disclosure
All About Symbian is an affiliate partner of Handango.