Google App Inventor: Now Anyone Can Create an Android App

Google is launching a new tool on Monday that lets anyone create an app for Android phones.

Google App Inventor claims to enable non-coders to develop complete, working Android apps by connecting a series of “blocks.” Google has been testing App Inventor in schools for a year, reports The New York Times. At the time of writing, App Inventor is only available to those who apply via a form.

It’s a smart concept. Not only is the Android Market an open platform for developers (with no approval process, a la Apple’s App Store), but now we’ll likely see a vast array of specialized apps built by non-developers. This could radically increase the volume of apps in the Market versus the App Store.

The easiest way to create apps for your phone!

App Inventor is built on the idea that you do not need to be a developer to build great mobile applications. Instead of code, App Inventor allows you to visually design applications and use blocks to specify application logic.

	Use the GPS-location sensor to build location aware apps For example, build an app to help you remember where you parked your car.
	Make your apps communicate by using the phone functionality For example, build an app that periodically texts "missing you" to your loved ones.
	Integrate with the web to build mashup applications For example, build an app that talks to your favorite website like Twitter.

Learn more »

The expansion may, of course, come at the cost of quality. We’ll see thousands of new Android apps, but will they be of a “cookie cutter” nature, offering very little value? There is, however, an upside in the long term: If App Inventor is so simple that schoolchildren can make apps, some those same children will soon become coders themselves and perhaps choose to develop apps for Android rather than iOS.

Google and Apple are currently in a heated battle to win the hearts and minds of developers. Google, it seems, wants to win over the non-developers too.