Universal Remote Control to Open App Store

If you can use iPhone's App Store, you can use the new Toolbox store from Universal Remote Control.

A leader in remote control technology, URC is now offering dealers the chance to share their home-grown applications on the company's dealer-only Web site, urccontrolroom.com.

Dealers have been developing their own URC templates, sounds, integration modules, animations and applications for years. And they may never recoup the costs of developing these apps. Now they can sell them to other URC dealers for any price.

URC keeps a small percentage of the sale to operate the store.

Marketing director Jon Sienkewicz says that apps will range from free to $500 or more, "and I suspect many will be in the $0.99 to $9.99 range."

The company will also offer hardware, including replacement batteries, charger bases and cables. All financial transactions are being handled through PayPal.

As with the original app store, URC's Toolbox will have plenty of freebies from both URC itself and dealers who want to spread a little love.

My question to other manufacturers: Why isn't everyone doing this?

URC will demonstrate the new service at CEDIA Expo 2009.