Google has finally decided to release its open Android Market for sharing applications for mobile devices on September 17. Meanwhile, T-mobile has won the race to be first to launch this application on the G1 mobile, which is a HTC phone based on the Google-backed mobile operating system called the Dream. Finally, a challenging rival of Apple’s App Store is ready to boom in the market after so many hiccups and delays.

What is Android?

The Android platform is a software stack for mobile devices including an operating system, middleware and key applications. Developers can create applications for the platform using the Android SDK. Applications are written using the Java programming language and run on Dalvik, a custom virtual machine designed for embedded use, which runs on top of a Linux kernel.

To develop applications in Android Platform, Google has provided Android SDK which allows developers to develop applications for mobile devices easily. The SDK contains what you need to build and run Android applications, including a true device emulator and advanced debugging tools.

What is Android Market?

When Google encouraged developers to develop the applications using SDK, people were wondering how the developers would address the market of mobile users to sell their applications. The idea came up to develop Android Market, similar to the Apple’s App Store. According to the latest notes as released by Developers blog of Android Market,

Android Market is an open content distribution system that will help end users find, purchase, download and install various types of content on their Android-powered devices. The concept is simple: leverage Google's expertise in infrastructure, search and relevance to connect users with content created by developers like you.

Why Android Market?

The question that arises in the minds of many is, why will people go for Android Market while App Store is still there to present the contents of developers to end users? What would make the Android Market so special that developers and applications users could switch over? Some of the key points that make Android Market distinctive from App Store are:

1-Android SDK is open source:

Developers will not pay anything to develop the applications using Android SDK, and with App Store SDK, they have to pay $99 US dollars to develop applications for the iPhone and later to upload their applications.

2- Rating system for applications:

Android Market will more or less work like Google’s YouTube, meaning users will be able to rate any application according to its features and how well it works. There will be a sort of competition among developers and they will strive to develop better applications day by day.

3- Developers will be able to monitor their applications:

Google’s Android Marketplace is intended to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings. So, developers will be able to monitor how many people are using and downloading their applications directly without the intervention of the Android Marketplace administrations. As far as Apple’s App Store is concerned, there is no mechanism to record the number of downloads of any application.

While developers and consumers are ready to welcome the Android Marketplace and considering it much better than App Store, there are still other aspects to consider. In a post on Phandroid, it is mentioned that:

It’s all but officially confirmed that T-Mobile will launch the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) as the first ever Android enabled phone. It’s also been rumored that they’ve been prepping an iPhone like App Store that would allow for downloadable applications across every phone in their offering. Google has claimed that Android would allow for carrier customization but it would be a complete shame if those with the HTC Dream were forced to find and download apps through a T-Mobile regulated system that isn’t likely to be better than the iPhone App Store.

I agree with the above viewpoint and consider that carrier customizations should not be included in the first place. Secondly, it should have little effect on the Android Marketplace as there is the chance that some customizations might not be acceptable by the consumers or they might rate Android lower than Apple’s App Store. The mobile sets that will be containing the Android Market will be available by the end of this year and initially the beta version of the Android Market will be available. This will let users download free applications. Paid applications will be available later with updated versions of Android Market.

 

References

1-      http://phandroid.com/2008/08/28/android-marketplace-vs-iphone-app-store/

2-      http://www.techspot.com/news/31419-google-introduces-android-market.html

3-      http://android-developers.blogspot.com/search/label/Announcements

4-      http://code.google.com/android/

5-      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App_Store