Android Market

With hopes to rival the iPhone App Store, Google unveiled the first details of the Android Market on August 28, 2008. The Android Market was launched with 62 applications on October 23, 2008.http://techcrunch.com/2008/10/23/android-market-takes-on-apples-app-store-games-still-rule-but-should-they/

The source code for the Android platform was made available for free on October 21, 2008, and the Market opened its doors to developers on October 27, 2008.http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/21/google-opens-the-floodgates-open-sources-android/ http://gizmodo.com/5069150/reminder-android-market-officially-open-to-all-devs-today To encourage and reward the development of Android Market applications, Google held a $10 million contest.http://code.google.com/android/adc/

The market sells applications which can be used on the Google Android open source mobile platform. It features a feedback and rating system, similar to YouTube.http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/android-market-user-driven-content.html

In information supplied by Mobile Web on March 17, 2010 it was announced that there were now 30,000+ Android Market applications.http://blog.mobileweb.be/2010/03/17/android-market-now-contains-30000-apps/ The market is growing rapidly as Google had previously said there were 16,000 applications in December, 2009.http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/16/google-android-market/ Estimates by AndroLib suggest that 39% of applications are paid for and 61% of applications are free.

Compared to other phone markets, such as Apple's App Store and Blackberry's App World, the Android Market offers the most free applications. As of May 2010, 57% of the applications available on the Android Market were free. The figure was twice the number for Apple (28%) and Blackberry (26%).http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20009717-251.html

In a post on the Android Developers Blog, Eric Chu described how developers can publish and sell their own applications and assured customers that many free applications would also be available.http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/android-market-user-driven-content.html Chu explained that Google chose the term 'market' over 'store' as they want to make it an open and unobstructed environment for developers.http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/android-market-user-driven-content.html Gizmodo pointed out another major difference from the App Store and the Android Market. Google will not require an approval process for applications, referring to the mysterious black box of approval that developers face when posting to the App Store.http://gizmodo.com/5043178/android-market-googles-app-store-will-not-require-approval-for-applications

Android is the first open and free Mobile platform, created by a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies, the Open Handset Alliance. The Android Platform is a stack of Mobile devices including an operating system, middleware and key applications.http://code.google.com/android/documentation.html Google's Android Market is an open content distribution system.

On July 7, 2010, Borders bookstores announced that it would be making an e-book application available on the Android Market. This application would be free and allow users to download and read electronic books on the Android-supported cellphones. Each book would have a charge, but would have free sample pages available.http://www.droid-life.com/2010/07/07/borders-ebooks-android-market/ The application is intended to compete with Amazon.com's Kindle application, which was released in June of 2010.http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/28/kindle-android-app-available-now/