Android Market Web Store just Launched
market.android.com
market.android.com
This is a screenshot of the Market from France: http://i.imgur.com/lchpI.jpg
Half the page is in the french, half the page is in english and IMO the worst is the "~" before the price (they convert $/€ so it's ROUGH price wtf! ). The website doesnt feel that it can be trust IMO if you look to it like a John Doe.
This is definitely a step in the good direction but please Google please polish a little more your android products so that they appeal the masses!!
Adding ?hl=en to the URL fixed it for me (just having it here once was enough).
The same strategy may fail them again. I certainly would never have even looked at a mac laptop if it were as locked down as iOS is. Although people often argue that mobile products are different, I disagree. They are simply small form factor computers and you need look no farther than Android to see that an operating system as flexible as a desktop OS works just fine in this area.
In this sense, it is every bit as open as desktop operating systems traditionally are.
The '~' has exited in Android for a while (before it would just list it in whatever foreign currency the developer accepts). Given that the currency conversion is passed on to the customer (whether that's a good idea is another story), the '~' is important to signal that currency conversion is occurring.
We are introducing a new feature called Buyer’s Currency that lets you set prices for your apps separately in each of the currencies on Android Market. We are deploying this feature country-by-country over the next few months, starting with developers in the U.S. When the feature is available to you, we will notify you by email.
Link for comparison: https://chrome.google.com/webstore
Just a thought.
Despite that it is still better looking than the Android Market Web Store. The best thing I can say about the Android Market is that it is remarkably fast.
EDIT: docs here --- http://developer.android.com/guide/market/billing/index.html
The details page probably needs some tweaking. The Related column takes up way too much space and shouldn't be on the left side commanding so much immediate attention. That should come visually last in the flow of what the user is looking for on this page. The main column with details, images and reviews thus feels awkwardly scrunched, particularly with the thin About This App column seeming haphazardly floated right. The worst is the lightbox function when enlarging an image, which forces me to click the small X button to close the lightbox, rather than being able to click in any dead space.
But overall, I think it's fantastic this is finally available and a great first iteration.
One feature that would be nice would be the inability to hide applications that don't work on your device (as is done in the android market) I've gotten all excited for certain apps only to be told they can't be installed on my phone.
Also needs to discriminate better between 'install' and 'installed'; perhaps with colors or just outright hiding installed apps
[edit]Not to say I don't agree with you. There should be some sampling of new applications there too.
I wonder if the poor quality stems from the fact that Android is probably not even paying for itself internally at google and they don't properly account for all the mobile web traffic it brings to google.com, so the team size is really small right now. This is certainly not the place for using the whole "beta for 5 years" concept because the competition is already polished.
Google makes more than $1 billion or more on mobile ads..are you aware of that? That means in fact android does pay for itself..
Update; You can remotely updated apps from your computer: Awesome.
So basically, they make 4 apps per page impossible to purchase due to shoddy web design.
But being able to install direct to the phone without going via an iTunes-like think is amazing.
Some things that make it instantly better than purchasing iPhone apps from your computer:
1. This web interface is lightning fast, iTunes is horribly slow. 2. You get to use the standard browser controls over the random clutter of controls in iTunes. 3. Pressing "install" installs to your phone without having to plug it in, or sync, or worry about losing your shit.
I think it's a great first iteration, and it's definitely something that has been a long time coming.
From your desktop web browser?
This is an important point. Every time I have to use the iTunes store I'm annoyed at how sluggish it is, how poor the search is, how odd the navigation seems to be, and how much I miss having tabs.
The tabbed interface for the app description/screenshots, user reviews, update info and permissions info is patently superior to the messy iTunes app pages.
The Market is really orders of magnitude faster than iOS's app store, too.
I also don't understand why they need a web store. I buy apps on my iOS devices all the time. Is the point that general usability on Android devices is so bad that you need to use a desktop to purchase apps that will then get transferred to your mobile device??
Second, having a web interface just makes it easier for people to search and find apps with ease from their computer.
It will REALLY help me because I can now easily link to my apps from Facebook and Twitter, and it looks like users will be able to click INSTALL and have the app go right to their phone so the next time they are ready to play, it's there waiting for them :)
I love it.
Glad to know you are doing well on Android Market. I'm still confused at my personal tendency to readily make app purchases on my iOS devices but not on my Android phones. But then again, I guess we aren't the average mobile user these days.
Once I bought my first android app (a $.89 game or something) I opened the floodgates, and now buy more apps for my android than my iOS devices (kindle books notwithstanding), so each to their own.