14 DAY TRIAL // The Google Chrome Web Store is very close to launch. Google has previously said that the target date is October and, although it hasn't announced anything officially, a number of signs are pointing in this direction.
One very clear sign that the Chrome Web Store is close is the fact that the very latest releases of Chromium and the Chrome Canary Builds now have the Apps section of the New Tab Page enabled again, as Download Squad noticed.
Apps made a brief appearance in the New Tab Page at an earlier date but the section was then removed since the store was not ready for launch and Chrome didn't have full support for apps yet.
Now though it's making a quiet comeback and users are reporting seeing the Apps section again. It's collapsed by default, but you just have to click on the little arrow to expand it.
Of course, there aren't that many apps available at the moment, but you can give the default Google apps a try to get a taste of things to come.
There is also a link to "Get more apps" that leads to the Chrome extensions gallery. When the Chrome Web Store launches, it will replace the existing gallery and will house extensions and themes along with apps.
The latest Chromium build also adds some descriptive text which invites user to discover applications. Presumably, this text will go live once the Web Store launches.
Still, there are some questions left. All of these changes are in the very latest Google Chrome 8.0.550 and Chromium 8.0.552 builds. However, the current beta is still stuck at 7.0.517.
Either Google plans to launch the Chrome 8 beta and subsequent stable builds before the Web Store is available, which is unlikely since the Chrome 7 stable hasn't even been launched, or it plans to enable apps support in the Chrome 7 beta and stable as soon as the Store launches.
Google Chrome for Windows is available for download here.
Google Chrome for Linux is available for download here.
Google Chrome for Mac is available for download here.