Growing its market
Google has announced a long overdue refresh to the look, feel and functionality of the Android Market. In addition, US users will get access to books and movie rentals, presumably via Google Books and YouTube, directly from the Market. Google has said this facility will roll out to select international markets soon.
The Android Market is generally compared unfavourably to the Apple App Store, especially in terms of user experience and how easy it is to find apps. This change, which you can see illustrated in the video below, is apparently designed to make the Market a bit easier to navigate. However there still seems to be an emphasis on featured apps, which Google presumably charges for.
"We've created more space to feature some of the most interesting content of the week on the home page," said Google in a blog post. "We've added more top charts, with newer, more relevant items, and we've made it easy to swipe through these charts as you browse the store. We've also introduced new collections of great content, like staff picks and Editors' Choice apps."
The new look store will be rolled-out to Android 2.2 and above devices over the next few weeks.
