Intel AppUp beta comes to Europe with Moblin support

Intel's AppUp Center for netbooks is coming to Europe, but is still in beta form

Intel is expanding its AppUp Center application store for netbooks with support for its own Moblin platform. At the same time AppUp is being introduced into the EMEA region with local language and currency support.

The AppUp Center was announced at CES in January and is still in beta, but Intel said that it is now including support for Moblin v2.1 applications in addition to existing support for Windows-based netbooks.

Applications for Moblin will run on the MeeGo platform when available, Intel said. MeeGo merges Moblin with Nokia's Maemo, both of which are Linux-based.

The AppUp Center Beta will also become available in 27 European countries from 31 March, and will display application prices in local currencies. Language localisation is also coming, according to Intel.

However, the firm is not yet ready to announce when AppUp Center will move out of beta. The beta status reflects that the company is still working with partners to extend AppUp's functionality, Intel said, while today's move gives application developers in the Intel Atom Developer Programme an opportunity to reach a broader range of consumers.

"We are looking forward to the EMEA release because netbooks are strong here from a demographic point of view," said Peter Biddle, director of applications and services for Intel.

Biddle explained that Intel is building an app store specifically for netbooks because these are used in different ways from standard Windows laptops and also tend to have a different user profile, being seen as a more consumer-oriented device.

"We asked: 'What do users want to do with netbooks? Is there a gap in the market?'," explained Biddle.

Netbooks also have a screen size and form factor not ideally suited to today's laptop software, he added.

Intel intends the AppUp Center client software to eventually ship preloaded on many netbooks, and mentioned Acer, Asus, Dell and Samsung at the launch in January.

Vendors will be able to customise the software with their own branding to offer recommended applications to buyers.

"Our goal is to give them an opportunity to provide some value-add to customers without having to make a big investment in developing a store from scratch," said Biddle.

Applications are expected to cover areas such as games, social media, social networking and education.