Raspberry Pi gets its own app store

In a blog post on the Raspberry Pi Foundation's website, Eben Upton, the former Cambridge computing academic who came up with the idea for the affordable programming device, said the store would offer total beginners an easier way to find everything they need to get going, in one place and for free. "We hope that the Pi Store will provide young people with a way to share their creations with a wider audience, and maybe make a little pocket money along the way," he noted. "Anybody can submit their own project for moderation and release. "You can submit binaries, raw Python code, images, audio or video; and soon you'll be able to submit Scratch content too. We're hoping to see everything, from hobbyist content to full blown commercial software." Although users can choose whether to make their content free or paid, the store has a tip jar mechanism so that some money can still be made if the development work proves a big hit. Upton continued: "As ever with things Pi, the community is going to be key to making the Pi Store great. As well as submitting your own projects (and there are tools in there to help you get started, like free sprite packages for budding games developers), you can help us out by reviewing and rating the stuff you download. "The Pi Store has a recommendation engine which is tailored to you and your preferences, so the more you review, the better the recommendations we'll be able to offer you (and other users)." By the time Raspberry Pi celebrates its first anniversary at the end of February, more than a million units are expected to have been sold. The next step for the Raspberry Pi inventors is to build a more professional organisation which can fulfil the original vision - to transform the way children use and understand computers.