Applications stores seem to be the fad of the end of the decade. With Apple’s iTunes Store, Steam’s disc-less download app, the Android marketplace and the OVI store, it makes sense for Windows to have its own. Although this isn’t the only way for Windows users to find applications, it does allow developers an additional venue to showcase their wares. According to Intel, the online store does have a profit sharing model (up to 70% profit in favor of developer) similar to how the iTunes store works. They are provided with a developer forum and SDK to build apps for AppUp.
Optimized for netbook resolutions, the AppUp Store serves as a central hub for discovering new apps for Windows. Since one of the primary issues of netbooks are small screens, the AppUp store provides an ample list of resolution-friendly standalone apps (i.e. not running on your browser) such as Facebook and TweetDeck.
If you’re running a netbook, it’s definitely a worthy download. But even if you’re not (I’m running it on a MacBook Pro + BootCamp), it still works on any WIndows XP / 7 enabled computer! Even if the app resolutions are optimized for netbooks, some developers have gone the extra mile to make their apps compatible with higher native resolutions.