Intel to shutter its app store

The chipmaker plans to shut down its AppUp store, a remnant of the short-lived Netbook era.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor

Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.

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Brooke Crothers

Jan. 29, 2014 6:37 p.m. PT

Intel AppUp logo. Intel

Intel plans to close its app store designed originally for Netbooks and later for other devices such as ultrabooks.

The Intel AppUp Center will close March 11, according to a note posted on the site.

The site provides little further clarification as to why the store is closing, beyond saying that "by closing Intel AppUp center, Intel will be able to focus more than ever on developing the next generation of platform innovation."

An FAQ states that "some applications do require communication with the AppUp client and may not work after May 15th, 2015."

An Intel spokesperson, however, did expand a bit on the reasons for the shutdown in a brief phone interview with CNET. "The market is changing...consumer needs are changing, so we are trying to realign and focus on cloud-based services."

"Our focus [is on] APIs through Mashery and Aepona, acquisitions we made last year," said the spokesperson, referring to application programming interfaces.

Intel launched the AppUp center in January 2010 and later announced a $100 million AppUp fund for companies developing applications.

Originally, Intel said the store was aimed at Netbooks (now a defunct product category in the U.S.), but the company expected the store to migrate to PCs, smartphones, TVs, and other devices.