As (I) expected (and predicted), Google has launched its own application store or marketplace; see Android Market: a user-driven content distribution system (Android Developers Blog).
And with the Android Market solution, Google is addressing the problem of application discovery and download; and their approach is user-centric, similar to YouTube — very, very good; exactly as how I would have approached it… YouApp!
Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube.
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Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings.
Very cool…
Related to this see The Next Big Thing in Mobile: Local Applications, and how the iPhone will, and how the OHA and Android can change perceptions.
Interesting to me is Google’s user-centric approach to the mobile application market, as I had started a project on my own, YouApp.mobi, whose goal or paradigm is exactly that: a user-centric application discovery, sharing and download — Google beat me to it ;-)
ceo