14 DAY TRIAL // Google recently announced that it is shutting down the dedicated Labs website. Google Labs housed all sorts of experimental apps and services, that didn't fit anywhere else at Google. Now, projects have been sent to new homes, the lucky ones, but some will be shut down.
One of the ones getting the axe is App Inventor for Android, a tool for creating Android applications which required no programming knowledge.
Google has confirmed that the tool will be shut down, but it will continue to support it until the end of the year. Beyond that, Google plans to open-source the code and enable anyone to host a version of the app themselves.
"With the winding down of Google Labs, Google will discontinue App Inventor as a Google product and will open source the code," Karen Parker, an App Inventor program manager, announced.
Google has not said when and how the process will unfold. What is known is that the source code for the app will be released. Developers and others interested in the tool will be able to host it at their own sites.
"Additionally, because of App Inventor’s success in the education space, we are exploring opportunities to support the educational use of App Inventor on an open source platform," she said.
The problem is that, the tool has been a success precisely with the type of people who would not be able to host their own web tools, especially a complex one like App Inventor.
Still, Google is moving forward, the tool will be available from Google until the end of the year, but it will no longer be hosted at Google Labs, which is closing soon.
"As a result of these changes App Inventor will be available through the end of the year but users should expect the current App Inventor URL [appinventor.googlelabs.com] to change sometime in the next 90 days," Google explained.