Brandon Miniman
08-28-2008, 05:48 PM
Back in July we wondered: Where is the Windows Mobile App Store? (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=5553) A point of strength for the iPhone is the excellent App Store, and now it looks like Android will have a similar platform.
Today Google announced the Android Market (http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/android-market-user-driven-content.html). It adds some extended functionality not found in the iPhone App store. For example, you can see what resources the program will require (GPS, Networking, etc). Since there will be many different Android devices, being able to quickly determine what kind of hardware the software requires will be helpful. This problem of software/hardware compatibility is one (of many) that a Windows Mobile app store would face, but it seems that Google has remedied the issue through the notification screen seen below. Also, users can tell whether they've already installed a certain application; one of the annoyances of the iPhone App store is that it shows you applications that you have already installed.
Today Google announced the Android Market (http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/android-market-user-driven-content.html). It adds some extended functionality not found in the iPhone App store. For example, you can see what resources the program will require (GPS, Networking, etc). Since there will be many different Android devices, being able to quickly determine what kind of hardware the software requires will be helpful. This problem of software/hardware compatibility is one (of many) that a Windows Mobile app store would face, but it seems that Google has remedied the issue through the notification screen seen below. Also, users can tell whether they've already installed a certain application; one of the annoyances of the iPhone App store is that it shows you applications that you have already installed.