While today was largely Chrome day at Google I/O and yesterday was largely Android day, Google is still making Android-related announcements. Today, Google revealed five new features for the Android Market.
That’s in addition to the recently announced movie rentals.
For one, there are new “top app” charts, which Google says have been revamped to be fresher and country-specific, so results are more current and relevant. As the Android Market continues to grow at a rapid pace, relevancy will certainly become more crucial.
Last month, we reported that Google had taken steps to boost search quality in the Android Market (Panda for mobile apps anyone?), so it’s clear that this is something the company is starting to take more seriously. At I/O, Google revealed that it has exceeded 200,000 apps available in the Android Market.
There is also a new Editor’s Choice section. “These are some of the very best apps available for Android, as chosen by the Android Market staff,” says Android Market Product Manager Fernando Delgado. “They span everything from games to productivity and beyond.”
“We’re also recognizing those developers creating the highest quality, most popular, and most notable apps available on Android Market,” he adds. “They’ll get a special icon on our Android Market website, appearing wherever the developer name is shown, starting today for an initial set of over 150 developers.”
Users will see two groups of related apps on the left-side of every app page – those frequently browsed by people who viewed that app, and apps that people tend to install along with that app.
Finally, there’s a new Trending Apps section on the Android Market homepage. These are apps that are quickly growing in daily installs.
Google says the market has seen 4.5 billion app installs so far.