Google launches Android Market Web Store - a web portal for Android applications
There is a good news for all Android lovers! Google has now come up with a web portal from where you can download all your favorite Android applications. Earlier, Android market on your handsets was the only way to download latest Android apps. Though exciting, at times it may feel cumbersome to browse through all the apps on the handset. Moreover to access all the details of an app and to choose among the thousands of available applications is always a problem. To solve this problem Google has launched the Android Market Web Store, which is a web portal that contains more than 200,000 applications. Google has done it to come at par with its stiff competitor Apple. Apple already has an app store that has more than 400,000 apps.
Android web-store is available at https://market.android.com/. Just go to this URL and there it is your favorite applications at your instant disposal.
With an attractive interface the web-store has options from where you can browse by category or see the top paid and top free android apps. Apart from that, an application’s complete description, the user’s review, rating, the android version it is compatible with, screenshots and number of installation details have also been provided in a very detailed and neat manner, making it much easier for its users to check and compare different available applications.
The free applications can be easily installed in your Android based handsets. All you need to do is to sign up with your Google account and click the enter button.
Then selection of the install option will begin the installation procedure. It will be as if we are downloading from the Android market on the handset itself.
As far as paid apps are concerned Google has made the payment system seamlessly easy. Credit card numbers and other personal payment information is stored in a user’s individual Google account. After choosing an app, the user can make a payment using a one-click purchase system. Also the developers can have more control on the backend as they can set the price of their apps in different currencies which is supported by Android market. Also, Google is planning to launch the concept of virtual currency in Android market.
However, though Android web-store is quite a luring option for installing apps, it still contains a lot of security concerns. The biggest problem is that of a no authentication scheme at the user’s handset. The app gets installed automatically as soon as you hit the install. If somebody by any chance gets hold of anyone’s Google account information any app can be easily made to get installed on anyone’s handset. Also unauthorized purchases can be made and also malware can be set up deliberately. Google has yet to look into these vital matters of security and incorporate some scheme against them.
