When Google rolled out a web-based version of the Android Market this week, one of the first questions that arose is what this means for third party app directories such as AppBrain. After all, a large part of the appeal of these services has been the fact that you can find apps and link to them in email messages, blog posts, or other online forums. Up until recently Google didn’t provide an easy way to do that.
But AppBrain developer Mathijs Vogelzang says while Google and AppBrain are now direct competitors in the web store space, that AppBrain’s web site and Android app still offers many features that aren’t available from the Market. It remains to be seen whether users will feel the same way, but for now it doesn’t look like AppBrain is planning on going anywhere.
Some of the things things Vogelzang says makes the service special are daily and weekly listings of hot apps, personalized recommendations based on the apps you’ve installed, app details that aren’t available from the Market including articles and blogs that link to the app, and additional filter options. AppBrain also filters out about half of the apps in the Market which the company says are spam or “otherwise low-quality.” The service also lets user share a complete list of their apps with others.
Overall, AppBrain is a service built on top of the Android Market, and the idea is to offer features that Google lacks… and that’s not hard to do right now. While the launch of a web-based Android Market this week was a huge step from Google, app discovery is still a bit hit or miss using the official Market. But I still suspect that AppBrain and other competing services are going to see a serious decline in users now that Google at least makes it easier to browse and link to the Market withoug a phone.
via Android Guys
couldn’t it be argued that Google’s App Store validates the online app directories (like AppBrain?)
I really loved this post. You describe this topic perfectly.