Verizon Communications is planning on launching a mobile software store that could present a third alternative in a market mainly dominated by the likes of Google and Apple, industry website The Information reported this week.
The largest wireless operator in the U.S. is leading discussions with other carriers and hardware manufacturers to launch an industry coalition to create the store.
Verizon has not commented on the news publicly yet.
Verizon Wireless launched a similar app store in 2010 for Android and Blackberry smartphone devices. It closed back in January 2013.
Google currently gives its distribution partners, like device manufacturers and carriers, 30 percent of revenue from applications sold in its store.
Apple doesn't give them any share of revenue however, according to the website.
The store, which is available on Android devices, would recommend applications to users based on their location and overall profile. It would also allow software developers to advertise their work, according to the website.
Last year, customers spent more than $10 billion on Apple's App store, a new record.
Google doesn't release figures for its store however.
Sprint also announced an app store of its own, called the App Pass earlier this year.
For a monthly fee, the subscription service, similar to Netflix, offers apps through a store separate from Google Play.
Amazon has its own app store for Kindle Fire devices, but it has had some issues attracting the same levels of attention from app makers like Google.
There is no clear cut reason how users would benefit from a Verizon-owned app since they have full access to the Google Play Store already and can add app purchases to their wireless bills every month.
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