V Cast App Store Comes to Android

1:00 PM -- Verizon Wireless is expanding its V Cast App aisle in the Android Market to be a complete store that could be a viable competitor to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)'s Market.

A post on Verizon's Developer Community portal said the carrier is taking app submissions for Android, although as GigaOm points out the store isn't new, just late.

Verizon first quietly announced it back in July 2009 with little detail. Since then, it has only been preloaded on a few BlackBerry devices with a few hundred apps.

But, once it comes to Android, it could prove to be a real competitor -- either if the interface, billing, and developer experience is more attractive than Android or if it pushes the Market off its network through exclusive agreements and preferential preloading.

Ed Ruth, Verizon’s director of V Cast Apps, told Light Reading Mobile back in May that it wouldn't build the walls around its garden up too high, but it will have to prove it to the developers. (See Verizon Outlines App Store Political Spectrum and App Insights: VZ Wireless Lures With Ad Dollars .)

Verizon holds its annual developer conference next week in Las Vegas where we may find out more, but I suspect that Google's not too worried.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile