Consumers need Facebook Credits to purchase apps and Facebook will take a 30% cut of the revenue.

Social networking site Facebook Inc is to rival Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) with its own app store, showcasing the games and other apps that earn the site much of its revenue.

People will be able to access the "App Center", which is to launch within the next few weeks, on the web and in the iOS and Android Facebook apps.

Central place

For the over 900 million people that use Facebook, the App Center will become the new, central place to find poplar apps like Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy, and Bubble Witch Saga, Facebook said on its developer's blog. Everything has an app detail page, which helps people see what makes an app unique and lets them install it before going to an app.

The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook – whether they’re on iOS, Android or the mobile web. From the mobile App Center, users can browse apps that are compatible with their device, and if a mobile app requires installation, they will be sent to download the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Facebook Credits

Consumers will need to use Facebook Credits, the company's payment system, to purchase the apps and Facebook will take a 30 percent cut of the revenue as it does with in-app purchases, said Facebook spokeswoman Malorie Lucich according to the Daily Mail.   

Facebook is introducing the app service to give software developers additional options, but the company expects in-app purchases to remain more prevalent on the social network, said Lucich.