www.WirelessFederation.com/news:? Vodafone has announced that it is to extend the reach of the Vodafone 360 services with the launch of a 360 Shop for Android. The announcement highlights Vodafone’s commitment to bringing the 360 Shop to popular, market-leading handsets and, in so doing, offering developers a highly attractive native or cross-platform proposition.

The 360 Shop on Android has been designed specifically to ensure that customers can easily search for and browse the applications most suited to their needs and interests.  This is achieved through a sophisticated personalised recommendations tool and dynamically changing promotional areas such as best rated, top downloads categories and filtered lists. Feature content promotions will be run by local market editorial experts to further showcase locally relevant apps. All paid-for content is charged to the customer through operator billing, with funds regularly transferred into the developer’s bank account, making it simple for developers to keep track of revenue.

Through the 360 Shop on Android, Vodafone is giving apps developers the ability to publish either JIL or native Android apps in the 360 Shop.  Developers can also take advantage of existing Vodafone features such as clear pricing, a transparent review process and in-depth reporting.

According to Lee Epting, Director of Content Services at Vodafone Group, developers want to know that their app will be seen by consumers, and the 360 Shop on Android has been designed to maximise opportunities for content promotion and initial data shows that up to a third of the catalogue gets exposed in a single day. This is a market-leading approach which will allow both customers and developers to get great value out of the 360 Shop.

Designed for the Android operating system and directly accessible from the handset home screen, the 360 Shop on Android will launch this summer on the HTC Wildfire and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro. The 360 Shop is a single destination for all digital content, integrating music, video, ringtones and apps, ensuring it will continue to serve the millions of existing Vodafone live customers. Furthermore, the handsets will come with 360 Music services embedded and Vodafone People soon available as a download.

To date, over 8,500 apps have been published to the 360 Shop. Eight European markets range over 100 different handsets capable of accessing the Vodafone 360 services. With further handsets due to launch throughout the year with the 360 Shop pre-loaded, Vodafone 360 will continue to provide the developer community with greater access to more customers.