Fragmentation, distribution and discovery are the three biggest issues confronting app and game developers, and they're only going to get more acute in 2011.

But one sector's challenges are another's opportunities and so it is with Appitalism, the social app community and online store that soft launched in September.

The brainchild of Ringtones.com founder Simon Buckingham through Mobile Streams, part owned by US giant Liberty Media, he says the inspiration came from his previous experience.

"We're still making money from ringtones, but it's clearly a dying business," he explains.

"We wanted to reinvent ourselves for smartphones, and apps are to smartphones what ringtones were to feature phones."

Your one-stop chatty shop

Combined with this is the vision that in future, people will own multiple connected devices, ranging from phones and tablets to netbooks and media players, each of will have their own specific content and app stores.

"Even now, the number of devices, operating systems and variations between them is a problem for consumers," Buckingham says.

"People find it hard to get apps and games that will work on their device, as well as finding content that they will enjoy."

Appitalism is designed to be a one-stop shop solution.

Using their brains

Currently a browser-based network, although with dedicated apps being developed, it combines social activity, viral promotion, incentivisation schemes, and crowdsurfed recommendations with a strong distribution channel.

"We're not going to out-Google Google when it comes to searching through all the content available, but by providing our users with rewards, we can get them to curate it for us," Buckingham says.

This occurs using its App Reward system, which links into a seniority status system and converts into credits that can be used to buy content.

Rewards are giving for reviewing games and plugging Appitalism into your various social networks gaining you points for connecting up to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace etc.

As well as encouraging its users' viral tendencies, Appitalism is getting global traction. In seven week it's launched in 51 countries with a potential audience of four billion.

Go to the source

Buckingham is also keen on signing up with as many content providers as possible.

"We're hosting as much content as we can," he says. "We already had 200 distribution deals through Mobile Stream, but we've also done deals with companies like GetJar to gain its complete catalog."

Of course, where it can't host content - such as Apple App Store - it will point users where they need to go.

As for 2011, it's a case of encouraging the community, launching app versions of the main site, as well as rolling out support for more stores with Samsung Apps, Windows Marketplace and Apple's Mac Store on the to-do list.

"At the moment there are islands of apps. Appitalism is designed to bring them together," Buckingham ends.

"The bottomline is people want apps for their smartphones, and we want to help them find stuff they'll enjoy."

You can check out Appitalism here.