If there is a bandwagon in town, everyone has got to leap aboard, hence the massive influx of mobile phone application stores we’ve seen over the last six months.  Vodafone have now announced their intention to join the ranks with the introduction of an app store,  available to users of its network instead of a specific brand of phone.

Vodafone initially plan to open the store in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy and Spain by the end of 2009, with most other countries to follow the year after.  By opening its own online store, Vodafone have the chance to implement location-based applications, since they own the network itself and thus have control over normally private subscriber information.

A software development kit will be distributed to developers and it’s expected the store will mainly contain Symbian-based apps, so anyone with a Nokia, Sony Ericsson or lately, Samsung handset will be well catered for.  Interestingly, Vodafone plan to implement a payment system where customers are charged for downloaded apps on their mobile bill instead of by credit card.  The SDK is expected to start doing the rounds in summer, with a planned launch in the autumn.