Today the Raspberry Pi Foundation opened the doors of the “Pi Store”; an app store for Raspberry Pi owners. Being a UK institution it probably should have been called the “Pi Shop” or even “Ye Olde Pi Shoppe”. The store was set up in partnership with IndieCity and Velocix and aims to be your “one-stop shop for all your Raspberry Pi needs”. At launch the Pi Store has 24 free apps and one commercial app available – take that Apple, Google, Microsoft etc!
The Pi Store hopes to provide a simpler pathway for beginners to enjoy their Raspberry Pi and also “provide young people with a way to share their creations with a wider audience”. Developers also have the opportunity to sell commercial software and with the store so spartan at the moment, get seen by lots of eager downloaders. Interestingly, even free app providers can make money thanks to a “tip jar system” where people can donate to the developer if they feel impressed enough.
Currently the Pi Store has five categories of downloads including Games, Apps, Tutorials, Development tools and Media. More categories will come as more software and content arrives. The store has a reviews and ratings system which learns what you like and the “recommendation engine” reflects your personal taste in things in what it shows to you. More time, apps and users are needed for the full functionality to show itself.
The app store runs as an X application under Raspbian Linux. A Raspbian image including the store is available here. The store is also available online at http://store.raspberrypi.com/ via your web browser.
Hopefully a decent sized community and app store will grow from this foundation “With the Raspberry Pi finally having a dedicated software store, it's going to bring together the already-thriving Pi community in a way that's simply not been possible before,” said Raspberry Pi Foundation co-founder Eben Upton.
