How Google can clean up the Android Market

Google has an application market just like Apples AppStore called the Android Market.

Apple naysayers have been touting the benefits of the Android market saying that it is open and anyone can submit apps to it, quite unlike the draconian process for the Apple AppStore. This has lead to its own problem with a deluge of apps on the store which are malicious or substandard.

Om has written an article on ways to clean up the Android Market.

I have a different take on it.

Google can ill afford to go the Apple way and start certifying all the apps. Neither can they go putting the kill switch on the apps. What my suggestion is that Google go the way Twitter has and start to certify legitimate apps.

The process will be simple.

The company which wants it apps to be certified will submit its application to Google. Google after its due diligence can certify it, or point out what is wrong with it.

For making this work, Google will have to :

• Setup a system for recieving applications.
  
• Setup QA for certifying the apps.
  
• Make a few changes to the market application (both web and mobile) to show that an application is certified.

This will go a long way towards making sure that people can get around all the fluff that is there and be sure that genuine applications exist.

At the same time, it also allows developers to put their app onto the market even if they have not been certified - giving a better time to market.

Related Posts :

• Jon Lech's : Google's Mismanagement of the Android Market
• Om's : 4 Ways Google Can Clean Up The Android Market