Android Market tops 80,000 apps, but off-limits to tablets

In conjunction with the introduction of T-Mobile USA's new Android-powered G2 smartphone, Google revealed that its Android Market storefront now boasts over 80,000 applications, up 10,000 new apps since mid-July. Google vice president of engineering Andy Rubin credited Android's open-source ethos for fostering developer interest in the platform: "Developer-led Android innovation is flourishing," he said in a prepared statement. "On Android Market alone, the number of applications available to consumers has grown from just 50 applications two years ago to more than 80,000 applications today."

But access to Android Market is not available to all devices running the Android OS. Hugo Barra, Google's director of products for mobile, said that Android 2.2 (a.k.a. 'Froyo') is not optimized for use on tablets, adding "The way Android Market works is it's not going to be available on devices that don't allow applications to run correctly. If you want Android Market on that platform, the apps just wouldn't run--[Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor. We want to make sure that we're going to create an application distribution mechanism for the Android Market, to ensure our users have right experience."

Screen size and resolution appear to be the culprits. The Android Developers website states that from Android 1.6 and up, the OS supports three generalized size (large, normal and small) and three generalized densities (high [hdpi], medium [mdpi] and low [ldpi]), with an upper resolution limit of 480x854 on screens measuring from 3.5 inches to 4.0 inches diagonal. Google has hinted that future Android versions beginning with 3.0 (a.k.a. 'Gingerbread') will support the larger tablet form factor.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last month that sales of smartphones running Android now total about 200,000 each day. "People are finally beginning to figure out how successful Android is," Schmidt said at the inaugural Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, Calif., adding that Android device sales totaled about 100,000 per day just two months earlier. "It looks like Android is not just phenomenal but incredibly phenomenal in its growth rate. God knows how long that will continue."

For more on Android Market:
- read this TechRadar article

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