Google Launched For Mobile Applications
To counter the frequent accusation of having "low-quality apps" as compared to iPhone/iOS, Google is on a hiring spree for mobile app developers. It is also seen as an effort by incoming CEO Larry Page to speed-up development and get back the start-up energy in the company.
Google's Android Market has more than 100,000 applications for sale/download . But this is nowhere in comparison to Apple's App Store hich has more than 350,000 applications available. However, the fight isn't about numbers anymore - it has graduated to comparison between the two mobile behemoths on the quality of apps. Unarguably, apps on Android Market are of lower quality as compared to those on the iOS. It is no surprise that Google is not happy with the market, the apps in it and moreso, the sales generated through it. Most of the apps are developed by third-party app developers and are available for free.
It was also reported a few days ago that Google is looking to recruit the biggest number of employees ever in its history this year – 6000! A sizable chunk of these new recruits would be experts in mobile application development. Google wants to get serious with the mobile-apps market as it is expected to contribute more than $15 billion in annual sales (overall market); the company wants to capture at least a billion dollars from mobile-generated revenue this year.
Efforts are already underway for this initiative as several of Google's own employees have been chosen to work on mobile-based projects as outsiders continue to be interviewed by product manager Benjamin Ling to join them. Not just the US, but it is reported that development for the mobile platform would be a worldwide effort, with several of Google's other offices also getting involved. India has one of the biggest offices and R&D centres outside the US – will the Indian contingent be a major contributor to apps on Android? We will have to wait and watch.
Before quitting, Eric Schmidt made it clear through a blog post on the Harvard Business Review website how mobile devices and development on them would be a major focus for the company this year. This could also be analysed as one of the early steps by incoming CEO Larry Page to speed up development and get the start-up energy back in the company. Recently, Google has been accused of corporate bureaucracy with its growing 24,000-employee strength leading many star engineers to defect and go to Facebook or start their own ventures.
It is also said that the new apps developed would be exclusive to Android and would not be made available to other platforms (read iOS). However, one other concern would be the clash between third-party and Google's in-house developers. Google would have to play carefully not to upset third-party developers since they are the first contributors to the platform and a major chunk of apps still come from the community. But it is said that developers are aware of this threat and would not mind it due to the enormous distribution power Android holds.
The mobile wars are getting hotter with each passing day, and with the news of Honeycomb getting a thumbs-up from developers and manufacturers, 2011 may very well be a decisive year for the market of smartphones and tablets.
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