“When Apple opened its iTunes App Store in July, the idea of a mass-market Web site that sells downloadable games, tools, and other applications for cell phones was a rarity. Handset owners could buy apps from their carriers or the occasional niche site. But these days, the app store concept is becoming commonplace,” Olga Kharif reports for BusinessWeek. “The question is, does the world need a warren of wireless app stores?”

MacDailyNews Take: iTunes. That’s the key. iTunes, with its massive and growing user base, is Apple’s huge competitive advantage.

Kharif continues, “In the coming six months, at least four would-be rivals of Apple will probably open their own online bazaars… Google has already announced its plans, while Microsoft, Symbian, and T-Mobile USA are in the likely-to camp.”

“The appeal of an app store is undeniable. Since the App Store debut, users of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch have downloaded more than 60 million applications, sampling the more than 3,000 games, calendars, and fitness applications on offer for as much as $10 a pop, though some are available at no charge. Sales averaged $1 million a day in the first month,” Kharif reports.

“Microsoft and other owners of competing operating systems want to ensure Apple’s popularity doesn’t take a toll on their own market share. ‘People are chasing the iPhone,’ says Van Baker, an analyst at consultancy Gartner… J. Gold Associates analyst Jack Gold figures that the App Store has helped Apple sell 10% to 15% more iPhone 3Gs than the company would have sold otherwise,” Kharif reports.

“Google’s Android Marketplace faces… challenges. Google will let developers post applications to the store in a matter of minutes, without going through an approval process… But that will make it hard to vet bad, glitchy, or inappropriate applications. To weed out bad apples, the Marketplace ‘features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube,’ according to the official Android developer blog. But users could still unwittingly download software containing viruses or malicious code damaging a phone, or simply buggy applications. Apple takes weeks to vet applications posted to its store, and rejects many,” Kharif reports.

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