14 DAY TRIAL // During the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco, Internet giant Google unveiled some new info on how its Android platform and the application ecosystem it benefits from are doing. The Mountain View-based company unveiled that the Android Market is enjoying a number of over 200,000 applications available for download on a number of more than 300 devices.
Moreover, the company announced a number of over 4.5 billion application installs to date, which is quite impressive when taking into consideration the fact that the Android Market was launched only two and a half years ago.
While these numbers are already growing, Google found a way to make sure that their growth is accelerating, and added some new features to the app portal.
In a recent post on the company's official blog, Fernando Delgado, product manager, Android Market, explains that the new enhancements are meant to facilitate app discovery.
Users would be able to easily search for the most popular applications in the Android Market, for new additions, or for those pieces of software considered to be the best available.
The software portal has been enhanced with a number of no less than five new features, the said blog post explains, all aimed at enhancing the user experience when it comes to searching for new applications.
The list of new features includes:
- New top app charts - We’ve revamped our top app charts to be fresher and country-specific, so you get the most current, relevant results. We’ve also added top new free, top new paid, and top grossing lists, all right on the Android Market home page.
- Editors’ Choice - These are some of the very best apps available for Android, as chosen by the Android Market staff. They span everything from games to productivity and beyond.
- Top Developers - We’re also recognizing those developers creating the highest quality, most popular, and most notable apps available on Android Market. Each of them would get a special icon on our Android Market website. Initially, this would include a set of over 150 developers.
- Better related apps - On the left side of an app page, you’ll now see two groups of related apps: apps frequently browsed by people who viewed this app, and apps that people tend to install alongside this app. We’ll also show you related apps once you decide to install an app.
- Trending apps - Finally, we’ve added a new section to the Android Market homepage showing trending apps – those apps that are quickly growing in daily installs. Look here to stay ahead of the curve and find new apps as they get hot.
Those of you who did not have the opportunity to have a look at the new features should head over to the Android Market on the web browser through their desktop PCs to learn more on them. Android smartphones and tablets should receive it soon as well.