The words "App Store" seem to be quite a hot commodity these days - Microsoft sued Apple, saying the term was too generic to trademark and Apple fired back that it is an exclusively Apple-centric term. Now, Apple has sued Amazon, according to CNet.
Amazon opened their Android appstore today, with a free download of Angry Birds Rio, which also hit the Apple App Store today. App stores have been on my brain lately, as I said in my BlackBerry PlayBook blog post we're writing a story on it for the April SD Times print issue, and Amazon's store is no different. Although, according to Apple, Apple coined the term and the eco-system (one click payment, in-app ads and a developer program) almost ever other device vendor has their own version of the store, sometimes with their own name, sometimes not, and on top of that, there are now third-party stores that sell apps directly to devices.
I think this "freedom" of the app stores began with the Android Marketplace, but what are your thoughts? Is it a trademarkable term as Apple maintains in their lawsuits against Microsoft and Amazon? Share your thoughts here.