Raspberry Pi app store unveiled

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 17 Dec 2012 at 12:30

Move over, Apple and Google - the Raspberry Pi now has its own app store.

The Raspberry Pi is a cheap computer, designed to encourage students to learn about programming. Now, the charity behind the device is making it easier to share apps and other content created by the community.

"The Pi Store will, we hope, become a one-stop shop for all your Raspberry Pi needs," the group said in a post on the Raspberry Pi website. "It’s also an easier way into the Raspberry Pi experience for total beginners, who will find everything they need to get going in one place, for free."

One of the 24 launch apps is a game called Storm in a Teacup, which is £1.99 and also available on the iPhone. The rest of the launch titles are free. That includes LibreOffice, an open source Spotify client, and several games, tutorials and development tools.

"We hope that the Pi Store will provide young people with a way to share their creations with a wider audience, and maybe to a make a little pocket money along the way; as well as offering commercial developers an easy way to get their software seen by the Raspberry Pi community," the group said, adding that games created in Scratch will soon be accepted.

"Anybody can submit their own project for moderation and release," it added. "You can choose whether to make your content free or paid: the store has a tip jar mechanism, so even if you’re not charging (and not charging will get you far more downloads), you still have the opportunity to make some money from your development work if people really like it."

The store runs on the Raspbian OS; it will be included in updated versions and can also be added manually.