Android Marketplace Needs Work

Google has a lot of problem to work on with the Android OS, the Marketplace, and convincing developers Android is a worthwhile money-making investment.

According the Larva Labs, a developer for Android, it's not making a whole lot of money despite having apps in the top paid list. In fact, it's over a little more thsn $62 a day. Not bad but certainly not great compared to what someone in a similar position selling apps for the iPhone can make, which is in the thousands per day.

I'll get more into this but having used both the iPhone and the G1 and playing around with the app store, there simply isn't a good comparison. A developer selling apps on the iPhone has an added advantage of the iTunes on the desktop to help market apps and, despite the iTunes app store flooded with 75K apps, there are 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch users today and closer to 60-70 million by the end of 2009.

It's Google that has to create a better atmosphere for app developers to market apps to Android users. Granted Android support is growing and I am sure things will improve for developers are the volume of users increase worldwide, Google needs to spend more time communicating with developers and learn from other platforms on how they market apps to users.

Look, Techcrunch posted information about this. These days, TC is on a warpath against the iPhone for whatever reason. It has said that developers are happy to leave the iPhone. I don't buy it. Leaving the iPhone means leaving tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands on the table. That isn't the point. The point is we Android users like a more robust and buying experience in the Marketplace.

Perhaps, Google will hit up with an improved Marketplace with future updates. I am confident Google will have more pieces in place to make buying and selling apps easier. Though I have to wonder how committed by are now that Chrome OS is also being marketed by Google. This is certainly going to create confusion among developers.

More at Techcrunch, Android Community

Android Versus Chrome OS

It's been a week and still, I don't get why Google decided Chrome OS is the way to go instead of putting more into Android.

But today, I think I finally learned why. The future isn't Android. The future is still the Web. Android is just something to hold things over until the Web finally takes over. And perhaps, Palm might have it right with its WebOS that relies heavily on the Web and HTML codes.

Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering, used his 5 minutes of fame to state that app stores like the insanely popular iTunes app store will go the way of the dinosaurs as webapps become more and more robust and useful.

The reasons he offered does make a lot of sense. There are quite a few mobile platforms out there and Google can't support all of them. So if an 800-pound you know can do it, what hope do the little guys have?

Hence, robust and powerful browsers in the next few years. That's what. And eventually, they will supplement the app stores as folks start to develop for it, instead of four or five different platforms. Develop for one, the Web browser, and it'll work for nearly all mobile platforms.

So, where does that leave Android? Well, folks, looks like we've been had. Android is just to hold things over until Chrome OS is ready for prime time or whatever else that Chome OS will morph into. Android is like to remain a priority for Google in the next couple of years. Google can't well tell its Android partners that it's got a new toy to play with and abandon it.

Plus, it's a good hedge just in case the webapp takeover doesn't happen in the time frame Google hopes.

Like I said at the top, I don't get Chrome OS. If it's just a browser, what's the OS that supports it? Well, we know it's Linux, just like Android is. The key implementation is the Web browser. In Google's case, it is Webkit, the open-source browser that powers Android, Chrome, Safari, iPhone's Safari, Palm, and some of Nokia's Web browsers. If it works on Webkit, it'll work on all the mentioned platforms.

Hope to gain more traction, Gundotra invoked Steve Jobs when he told developers to "build for the web" when the iPhone first came on the scene. Perhaps, Jobs was right but he was a few years ahead of the times.

I have to say that Pre's WebOS is pretty sweet and if anything Google's working on is even close, I am excited. More so if it runs on top of Android.

So, is this like Android versus Chrome OS as the title of this post states? Too early to tell. It does feel like Android is no longer the number one mobile priority for Google but I am still excited about webapps and cloud computing.

Sources: Financial Times (Must Read), Fierce Mobile, Wired, Mobilecrunch (must read)

Note: Apple has a directory for webapps that it first ask developers to create. It is still updated and perhaps this is the reason. Look there for useful apps. Since Android devices, iPhone, and Pre all use Webkit as its underlying technology for browsing, those webapps will work for all these devices.

Looking Forward to Amazon's Music Store on G1

I'll be getting my G1 tomorrow.  Hopefully.

The one thing that look most forward, among the other stuff that we ready know about Android, 3G, and the apps, I'm looking forward to using the Amazon MP3 store.

Here's why.

I've been so addicted to iTunes that it's difficult to break away from it.  It's a habit.  And the truth of the matter?  Apple has made it so freakin' easy to use.  Open up iTunes.  Look for what you want.  Download.  Listen to the music or upload to my iPhone or iPod.

I don't like that some of the music I bought has DRM and with Amazon, that won't be an issue.  Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how easy Amazon and Google has made this.

I'll have my review tomorrow.  And for better or worse, it'll be a review of an owner.