The mobilized human race is going gaga over apps. And this has lured businesses outside the circle of the moguls to invest in app stores. The sudden surge in third party app stores speaks of a strong affinity for business to seek and catalyze the consumerization of IT trends. Even now, other companies are refurbishing their portfolio make themselves more relevant in today’s rising mobile culture, compared to the big brand names.  This includes Adobe, which just recently decided to shut down its App Stores in order to build a platform that would help developers publish to large app stores instead of competing with the likes of RIM’s Blackberry App World and Amazon’s Android Market.

Following this announcement, the company released an official statement: “Given this focus, we have decided to discontinue development and support of Adobe InMarket. We are going to continue to provide support for publishing to different app stores through our tooling.”

The company then added other players that their previous customers may utilize right after the closure: “There are now several app stores on desktops, mobile devices and tablets that service AIR developers including Apple App Store, Android Market, BlackBerry App World, Intel AppUp center, Samsung Apps and Toshiba App Place. We encourage you to use these newer popular app stores to distribute your applications.”

Apple’s App Store reigns in this space, and has altered the economics of software distribution and monetization.  However, the present-day scenario sees more and more companies that are creating specialized hubs for Android Apps that work on their devices, or their own apps that work on an Android device.  Developers’ love for Android apps may be brought about by a more promising interface and wider public reception. A recent report says that the Android Market is poised to overtake the Apple App Store by 2012. Amidst the security debacle, Google’s favorite mobile platform is even getting competitive in the personal cloud and media arena, recently dubbed an iTunes competitor with the release of the new and improved Android Market.

The apps anthology could be another good-to-see chapter in the Android versus Apple saga. Furthermore, this speaks to the changing means around software distribution and selling.  The mobile ecosystem as a whole presents opportunities for recommended app stores from specified services, which sees gains in the social enterprise sector.  And with another mobile OS being added to the mix thanks to Mozilla throwing its hat in the ring, our mobile ecosystem only grows in complexity.