During the AppCoins participation in MWC, I noticed that the concept of “AppCoins, the protocol” was less known than the “AppCoins, the coin”.

Why do we need an Open and Decentralized protocol for App Stores? What problem is being solved?

The known problems

Developers expect App Stores to provide, at least, two monetisation services: being an enabler of payments inside apps and games (In App Purchases), and provide an user acquisition channel (Advertising).

When AppCoins protocol was launched, a few months ago, it was driven by the need to solve the monetization challenge that App developers face:

Fragmentation : there are at least 10 relevant app stores (Aptoide, Amazon App Store, CaffeeBazaar, Yandex store,…). If we take in consideration China, there are other 10 app stores relevant as well. All together, they account for 1 Billion users.

It’s important to reach those users but an impossible task to integrate all the different app store SDKs. Register in a different backoffice and to have a different money transfer for each of those 20 app stores is a developer’s nightmare.

: there are at least (Aptoide, Amazon App Store, CaffeeBazaar, Yandex store,…). If we take in consideration China, there are other 10 app stores relevant as well. All together, they account for 1 Billion users. It’s important to reach those users but an impossible task to integrate all the different app store SDKs. Register in a different backoffice and to have a different money transfer for each of those 20 app stores is a developer’s nightmare. Trust: monetization deals with…money. For receiving the revenue, developers have to trust each app store and to deal with different money transfer methods. Is the app store registering all the purchases? Will I be able to receive the money?

A standard protocol is the best industry approach for solving the above problems. A protocol is a set of rules that computers can “speak”. The protocol can have different implementations because it follows a known and previously established format.

What makes a protocol a success?

A “wildly successful” protocol far exceeds its original goals, in

terms of purpose (being used in scenarios far beyond the initial

design), in terms of scale (being deployed on a scale much greater

than originally envisaged), or both. That is, it has overgrown its

bounds and has ventured out “into the wild”. (IETF Network WG, “RFC 5218 — What Makes for a Successful Protocol?”, July 2008)

There are many protocols but only some of them are widely adopted.

An IEFT Network working group had studied the success and unsuccess of protocols and had come with RFC 5218 document that comprises an analysis of the main factors that lead to protocol success.

RFC 5218 Identified factors for protocol success.

From the Basic success factors, three of them are closely related with “openness”: open code availability, freedom from Usage Restrictions, and open specification availability. One other is related with “decentralization”: threats sufficiently mitigated.

The “open” (part of the protocol)

The proposal for AppCoins protocol to be “open” means that a protocol definition is publicly available and that any organization can implement it. To make the implementation easier, the App Store foundation (ASF) will contribute with an open source reference implementation that can be changed and improved (under GPLv3 license terms). “Open” means also that will be no IP licensing directly related to the protocol for those who decide to follow it.

…and the“decentralized” (part of the protocol)

Over time, the best entrepreneurs, developers, and investors have become wary of building on top of centralized platforms. We now have decades of evidence that doing so will end in disappointment. (Chris Dixon, “Why Decentralization Matters”, Feb 2018)

The AppCoins protocol is decentralized since it relies on the blockchain for storing information and executing business rules (through the Ethereum smart contracts). Instead of a single entity with a central database and proprietary servers, the important part of the In-App purchase and Advertising flows are executed on replicated blockchain node clients across the Internet.

Decentralization doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is in the blockchain. The protocol definition has to be pragmatic: only the information and the logic needed to achieve trust and consolidation should go to the blockchain. Non-critical parts of the flow should use webservices, databases, and off-chain infrastructure.

Advantages of Openness and Decentralization

A protocol to be adopted has to carry advantages, otherwise there are no incentives for adoption. The blockchain is the greatest invention of all time to align incentives in a supply chain.

The AppCoins protocol addresses the managing of incentives between Developers, Users, and App Stores.

Advantages (incentives) of the AppCoins protocol.

One APK. Multiple App Stores. One Wallet.

The first result of the protocol will be a standard and efficient way to acquire users and monetize In-App Purchases across app stores.

One Apk. Multiple Stores. One crypto wallet.

In a later stage, the scope of the protocol will cover also the app approval and developers rating as explained in the white paper.

The protocol is a living document. Iterations and new versions of the document integrating the feedback of the blockchain and the apps communities will be released.

Other topics are also critical to protocol success and likely will be addressed in my future posts, namely “governance” and “scalability”.

Now, however, we have a new way of providing incentives for the creation of protocols and for governing their evolution. I am talking about cryptographic tokens. (Albert Wenger, “Crypto Tokens and the Coming Age of Protocol Innovation”, July 2016)

As predict by Albert Wenger, the tokenization is a powerful mean to disrupt industries.

But what makes us move? Why is the Apps industry worthy to be disrupted?

There are 2 billion smartphones devices in the world. For a lot of mobile users, the smartphone is the only device to access Internet. An App Store is the (only) channel to install apps in those devices. Apps is how we get information and entertainment. Apps is what we use to communicate.

Are we ready to let the app store channel in the hands of two centralized companies like Google and Apple?

What makes move this protocol is to build a better app distribution ecosystem. A better (open and decentralized) mobile experience.