LIVE FROM DROIDCON LONDON: Orange used last week’s Droidcon event in London to woo the Android developer community, announcing the launch of a new online tool that allows developers to rapidly publish to the Orange App Shop mobile store across Europe. The new service – known as Orange Partner Connect – is available as a private beta to Android developers only, beginning this month. Orange’s Christophe François – VP of Mobile Multimedia Products & Services – described the service as “one of the first of its kind in Europe,” claiming it offered a “single point of entry to all Orange markets.”

The launch is the latest effort by Orange to ramp up interest in the Orange App Shop. Launched in December 2009, the store is currently live in the UK and France; François told delegates that it was due to launch soon in Romania, Poland and Slovakia, with other launches planned in 2011. The shop is available on over 20 devices (including 10 Android), which François said added up to about 1 million devices in circulation. He noted that the shop will be added to Orange’s BlackBerry devices early next year (Q1 2011). The Orange App Shop currently boasts 10,000 apps. 

Orange’s pitch to developers rested on the operator’s trusted relationship with the end-users. “We’re not just about access; we have to provide a service that is simple and safe for our customers so it’s important that we are a part of the eco-system,” said François. “This is what we offer developers: a trusted relationship with Orange customers via the monthly bill.” He noted that Orange has created “a dedicated store for each market offering highly localised content.”

In a later presentation, Orange’s Director of Developer Services, Martin Wrigley, explained how Orange Partner Connect has been designed to speed up the process of validating, testing and approving apps submitted to its network. “In the past, operators have been slow, obscure, controlling and arrogant – that’s got to change,” said Wrigley. He cautioned, however, that Orange was only on the look-out for “innovative apps” and would reject apps that were too similar to ones already hosted in the shop. “We don’t want hundreds of weather apps,” he said.

Interestingly, Orange says it will not encourage developers to rigidly follow the 70/30 revenue share split for apps that is now standard for the industry. While developers can still opt for the 70 percent cut on App Shop, Wrigley said that a 50/50 split was potentially much more attractive as this would allow developers to exchange direct revenue in return for getting their apps advertised in a premium space on the shop or included in Orange’s promotional offers.