It wasn’t all that long ago that the new-look Android Market started to roll out to devices with the aim to make the Android Market look more appealing and slightly easier to use for the end-user. Now Google is looking to improve the experience for the people who keep the Market running, the Developers. El Google is looking to introduce in-app purchases, which for example could be having a free app in the Market, but to get extra content you have to buy it within the game using your Google Checkout account. Another way they aim to improve buying rate is to increase the number of Carriers who allow users to pay for apps using their phone bill, a feature no Carrier in Australia currently uses.
The last thing Google are set to introduce is an Android Market review system, where they’ll employ real people to try apps out on the Market to see if they’re good or not so they can be promoted more than crappy apps that are no asset to anyone, which there are plenty (just type in ‘live wallpaper’). We’re happy to see the Android Market improve in any and every way possible, well done Google.
They seriously need to implement web based browsing and queuing of downloads to the phone (and reviews etc.). It’s ridiculous that I use a 3rd Party site (http://www.appbrain.com) rather than the actual market just because I can nicely search and find apps and then set them to be downloaded to my phone later when I’ve got it on WiFi.
The Market has pretty much ZERO ability to do anything with it on the web, and that’s pretty crap.
When will google allow people to purchase apps using either a gift card system (similar to iTunes) or Paypal. I am uncomfortable with Google Checkout and prefer the gift card method. Android Market will see a big jump in purchased apps if the payment could be made a bit more flexible.
It’s funny that Google, the most popular search engine in the world, can’t make their search function in the Android Marketplace any good.
Seriously, just try searching for “ADW Launcher” and you run into a huge list of themes before you actually find the launcher (which is required for the themes to run on).
Absolutely, the Market is in shambles at the moment. It really needs to be worked on to work flawlessly on all devices; tablets and phones.