Google Admits to Android Market Faults

Well Simmons may not be ready to admit to a fault in his beloved Android ecosystem, but Google’s Android platform manager Eric Chu went on record with Forbes stating that he’s “not happy” with the purchase rate of paid apps in the Android Market. Now it’s pretty clear why they wouldn’t be happy. The Android Market is filled with enough shit apps to make it an unpleasant place to visit. Also the openness that permeates throughout the platform (stemming from a free OS, with free email, Google apps, etc) perpetuates a free-mentality for Android users. And it seemed as though Google was ok with this. I mean, they’re a company based on advertising so free apps make them money – in the form of ad revenue. But as we’ve seen, even with growing market share getting apps like Angry Birds took time and it was initially a free/ad based game contrary to what the developer wanted, but they felt that’s what the Android Market dictated. Well Google seems to have learned that they need to make the app environment a better experience so they’re planning on some tweaks: in-app payment system, carrier billing, and easier app discovery. Well that’s a start but it’s pretty hard to unwind the last 100,000 apps and pretend like they’re not there already. I mean, if there’s already 50 free clones of your game, try to sell a paid version for $2 and see how it does.

Anyway, maybe this is all the beginning of Google fearing that the iPhone (who, let’s be honest has the best app store) is going to hit Android hard when it hits Verizon and if they can’t start to match that level of performance then short term hardware sales won’t be enough. OK so that was flame material but I know Simmons will be forced to comment on this now…