Zoho launches its own app store
Productivity application start-up Zoho is in a tough position: it has to compete with Google Apps. That hasn't stopped the company from pushing forward and trying new stuff.
Case in point: Zoho's Marketplace, which launched Tuesday. Through the Marketplace, Zoho users can make a buck or two off of applications that they built with Zoho Creator, the company's drag-and-drop application development tool.
If you've made an application in Creator, you can list it for sale in the Marketplace and charge a fee, if you want. Zoho doesn't take a commission from the sale of applications, but if you use Creator (or any other Zoho app) more than its personal-use plan permits, you'll have to cough up a subscription fee. This goes for app creators as well--if a lot of people are using your applications, you'll have to pay too.
Zoho isn't trying to create a get-rich-quick scheme here. "There are many applications out there that are not available off the shelf but are needed in a particular use case or situation," an explanation from the company read, "but there is not enough (of a) market for vendors to offer such situated software, as the need could be specific to a use case or an individual/business."
In conjunction with the release of its Marketplace, Zoho also launched Version 3.0 of Creator.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
