A new company arrived on the scene about six weeks ago, and it's raring to go for the Black Friday holiday.

Appitalism is a platform-agnostic online storefront and community for all things app. It's got recommendations, rewards, social networking and, of course, apps. The site's managers timed its launch so that it could iron out most major kinks and crannies before the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday.

CEO Simon Buckingham says Appitalism's biggest challenge right now is getting its brand out there – it's not easy competing with the likes of Apple and Google, with well-known brands like iTunes and the Android Market.

Appitalism is bringing a range of operating systems and platforms under one umbrella, and it's able to reduce some of the clutter in the apps space by bringing everything under one roof, he says. It also allows for better discoverability, with the community determining what's hot. Those who write a review or recommend content earn virtual rewards, which can be used to acquire other content.

As the name suggests, "our model is not to give everything free on the front end," he says. "It's a level playing field and the community will decide."

That's not to say it's a free for all when it comes to the quality of the content. Buckingham says Appitalism runs apps through a filter before it offers them, in part to make sure intellectual property rights are honored and licenses properly acquired.

A significant amount of currency and device testing occurred before the site launched in the United States and about 50 territories internationally. The system works with about 37 or so currencies and more are being added. It uses Amazon for cloud storage.

The site launched with three basic models: pay as you go, subscription and advertising.

Buckingham says Appitalism is agnostic when it comes to device platform or payment type – it supports Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Jave2ME. "Our primary focus is to try to provide as good an experience as we can," he says, adding that includes feature phones.

Social networking, with sites like Facebook and Twitter, are heavily integrated. Appitalism has done direct deals with 200 leading developers, including GetJar, and continues to add more.

For apps that are not directly linked in, the site will direct the user to the Android Market or iTunes or wherever they need to get the app. Appitalism is open to a range of approaches, he says, but one thing developers cannot do is buy any type of position; the community determines the ratings and reviews.

He declines to release actual numbers of downloads but key performance indicators include the number of times someone recommends the site and how many become members, and that number is "astonishing," he says. While Appitalism gives incentives to talk about it on Facebook and Twitter, "we didn't expect the viral [communications] to be anywhere near the levels we're seeing... Maybe there's a novelty factor, but it bodes well."

Buckingham's background includes 20 years of working in the mobile and digital space. He started his career at Vodafone in 1991 and later worked for Brightpoint before starting Mobile Streams in 1999. Mobile Streams, which is part owned by Liberty Media, creates and markets mobile content services through Ringtones.com, MobileGaming.com and subsidiaries.

Like most of the traditional mobile content companies, Mobile Streams needed something for smartphones, Buckingham explains. He believes that what ringtones were to feature phones, apps are to smartphones. Hence, Appitalism.