Welcome to appstoresoftheworld.com – The UK Government commissioned Copper Horse to create a site which provides information on the variety of app stores around the globe that provide apps for various devices. At Copper Horse we have been performing research in the app store space and realised that data available online regarding the app store landscape is often inaccurate or outdated. We created this site in order that it can be an accurate resource that is updated periodically. The ecosystem is broad and evolves quickly, so we’ll also aim to keep track of that.
So far we have discovered and researched 111 app stores:
- 66 for mobile,
- 14 gaming,
- 9 smart TV,
- 14 desktop,
- 7 wearable,
- 1 smart speaker store
We have classified four categories of app stores during the research. Among the 111 stores reviewed:
- 22 are Operating System (OS)-provided
- These are distribution platforms provided by the manufacturer of the OS, specifically for that OS.
- 2 are State-sanctioned pre-installed
- This category includes the Russian, government supported and sanctioned, stores. These were created following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
- 11 Native stores
- Native stores are app marketplaces, provided by a device manufacturer, that come preinstalled on their devices.
- 76 are classified as Third party stores
- This category is the largest and most varied and contains the rest of the app stores. Not affiliated with device manufacturers or major platform operators, but instead developed and managed by third party organisations.
