Android Will Have an App Store Like the iPhone

This is good news: It looks like Android will have a one-stop shop for applications, making it easy for developers to get their goods out there and users to pick ‘em up. While the “Android Store” isn’t confirmed, project lead Andy Rubin said at the Google I/O developer conference yesterday:

“It would be a great benefit to the Android community to provide a place where people can go to safely and securely download content and where a billing system would allow developers to get paid for their effort…We wouldn’t have done our job if we didn’t provide something that helps developers get distribution.”

An Android app store would sure fit the bill.

Unlike the iTunes app store fiefdom though, apparently Android’s Apache licence means a phone could be released with its built-in “store” stocked only with, say, Yahoo! apps—or no store at all—since third parties can do whatever they want to the code. Still, having a centralised distribution point bodes well for Android development, which was looking a little haphazard for a while. It’ll be interesting to compare third party development for Android and the iPhone come this time next year, that’s for sure. [The Register]