Billions of users across the globe have purchased and downloaded apps from one or multiple app stores, and now DappRadar has become the world’s dapp store. That’s the old fashioned app versus the new, fresh and user-empowering dapp. But what is a dapp store? How is this different? More importantly, what are the benefits for you?
Over the past 10-15 years and with the rise of digital distribution, we’ve seen the emergence of app stores. Consumers are looking for new applications to enrich their lives with digital services or entertainment. Now we are witnessing the next generation of app stores. App stores for exploring web3 decentralized applications aka dapp stores.
When comparing traditional app stores to new dapp stores we see 4 major differences:
Ownership
User sovereignty in the form of real ownership might probably be the main advantage for users offered by dapp stores and its underlying blockchain technologies. In traditional app stores users become consumers and encouraged to spend on in-app items via in-app transactions. Unfortunately such in-app items become worthless once the user/consumer moves on to the next app. Basically, once you’re done with the app, all the money you spent is gone.
However, in dapp stores consumers become owners, community members, or metacitizens. No matter whether talking about games, financial services or other types of dapps, dapp store purchases are about obtaining real ownership. When users spend in dapps via purchasing tokens, they obtain real ownership of such tokens.
In general, tokens from in-dapp purchases can not only be sold at any time, but also often enable partial ownership of the dapp itself and therefore governance rights. Depending on the type of token, a token holder often acquires a say in the managerial affairs of the dapp itself and therefore becomes a co-owner. The DappRadar dapp store offers dapp users the possibility to track all their dapp tokens via the DappRadar Portfolio Tracker which is an essential part of the store itself.
No Uploading / No Downloading / No Centralized Storage
Apps in traditional app stores are stored on centralized servers across the globe, hosted and curated by centralized companies. Apps that don’t follow the rules set by the gatekeeper don’t have any chance to get uploaded and listed. However, a dapp store works differently. Companies don’t upload any content, but instead connect their dapps to a dapp store via their smart contracts. This means that the dapp store only links to the respective decentralized application. Due to the decentralized nature of data storage in web3, a dapp store can also tap into blockchain data generated by a particular dapp, for example the number of transactions or the number of unique users.
Discovery
A dapp store brings changes to the way users discover new dapps. In traditional app stores you’d discover games by scrolling through categories, watching game trailers and reading descriptions or reviews from other users. Dapp stores provide rational and data-driven metrics that help users to determine whether they want to try a dapp. How many other users are using that dapp? Are users investing lots of money? Is there considerable trading activity? What’s the price performance of the native token? Through a dapp store, like DappRadar, these questions can be answered. Stats and measurable data become decisive factors, making blockchain data graphs the shop front for the dapp ecosystem. Thanks to their dependence on blockchain technology, dapp stores can provide a much richer and reliable decision making experience compared with traditional app stores. Where app stores rely on reviews and sentiment, dapp stores add a quantitative layer. These same dapp stores use blockchain data and present this information in a way that it becomes understandable for the audience: educating them in making reasonable decisions.
30% app store tax VS 0% dapp store tax
Dapp stores aren’t only beneficial to users, but also to developers. App stores are centralized, hosted and curated, the gatekeeper demands a commission of up to 30% of the revenue. Such a business model was once new and refreshing, but increasingly causes friction between content creators and the distributor or gatekeeper. The biggest example of this is the clash between Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, and Apple. A dapp store on the other side doesn’t usually take a commission for referring a user. These different cost structures (30% vs 0% store tax) are fundamental changes to the way dapps are marketed and distributed from the developer to the user.
In the world’s dapp store, dapps aren’t hidden or curated based on the preferences of the gatekeeper. DappRadar provides the tools for users to discover dapps through quantitative methods. When you discover something is popping in the dapp store, then it’s really popping. There’s no tricky marketing theme behind it. You can then try it out, step in, trade, stake, swap or play. All this, because you discovered a new awesome dapp on DappRadar.
