Google has taken a beating this week for the money developers aren’t making from the Android Market. Google responded tonight with some improvements that should stimulate the interest of all Android developers.
Beginning with Android 1.6 (the Donut release, yum), the Android Market will let developers promote their applications and games with screenshots, promotional icons and descriptions.
Google has also created sports, health, themes and comics sub-categories for new and existing applications via the publisher Website, and added seller support for developers in Italy.
“To take advantage of the upcoming Android Market refresh, we encourage you to visit the Android Market publisher Website and upload additional marketing assets,” wrote Google Android OS developer Eric Chu.
Check out this video to see the improvements:
These “discoverability” improvements, as they are called in the video, seem like small potatoes, but they could signal the start of an increased focus on marketing Android Market, something Farhad Manjoo, John Gruber and others have been calling for if Android is to succeed versus Apple’s market-leading iPhone.
In that sense, these promotional activities are vital to Android’s success, particularly as more phones find their way into the market.
See my piece from earlier today on Sprint’s HTC Hero, slated for an Oct. 11 launch, and you can read more about these Android Market moves on TechMeme here.