Jan 31, 2011 11:17 GMT  ·  By

For a long time, Google's focus was almost exclusively on the web. Arguably, this is true today as well, even as the company offers a browser used by more than 100 million people and two separate operating systems.

This has been true on the mobile front, as well, Google builds plenty of native apps, but it emphasizes the web versions. That's about to change, partly to challenge the rather lackluster offering in the Android Market, Google is about to start building native mobile apps en masse.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which cites undisclosed sources, Google is now hiring people as well as repositioning existing employees to start building native apps.

This is more than just native versions of Gmail, search, Maps and so on. Small and rather independent teams will build any app they want, either related to existing Google services or completely new products.

There aren't any restrictions on what the apps can be, apparently, anything from games to check-in services is fair game.

The move counters several problems inside Google. The company has been struggling to get developers as interested in the Android platform as they are in Apple's iOS.

This despite Android starting to overtake iOS in smartphone market share. The App Store has over 350,000 apps while the Android Market just over 100,000.

Of course, in both cases, quality leaves a lot to be desired, but the App Store has more, good apps than the Market, if only because there are more apps in total.

They're also easier to monetize as Google still struggles with its payments system, Checkout, which is still pretty much the only option for getting paid for an app. This is why ad-supported apps are much more common in the Android Market.

Google is said to be focusing on quality rather than quantity. It wants its engineers to build high-quality apps, some exclusive to Android, to make the platform more desirable. This is why it's giving them a free choice in what apps they can build.

The other big problem Google is tackling with this move is the lack of flexibility within the company which is making plenty of engineers and execs leave either to start their own company or work for more nimble competitors, Facebook in particular.

Google is starting to encourage small and independent teams to work on any project they desire, with the company providing support and advice, its infrastructure, and, of course, paying the bills.

This is said to be one of the big reasons for the CEO switch. Having Larry Page as CEO should streamline the decision-making process. What's more, the Google cofounder wants to speed up development and get rid of the bureaucracy.

He is also said to be behind Google's move to start creating a lot more native mobile apps. Of course, it may seem like a change of course at Google, which has always preferred the open web, which it can monetize, to native applications. But it may be a necessary transitional step which would help Android gain prominence until the web, HTML5 and co., can offer a comparable experience to native apps.