• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 13, 2010

Google released a tool Monday that makes it easy for anyone, regardless of technical or programming experience, to create mobile applications for Android-powered devices. App Inventor for Android allows people to create applications, providing an opportunity to control their experience.

Google has been testing the application in classrooms across the United States at trade schools, colleges, and universities. The app aims to turn non-programmers into developers and get people more involved with mobile applications. More apps in the marketplace gives Google access to an increasing amount of data.

For Google, it increases inventory for AdMob, according to Amielle Lake, chief executive officer at Tagga Media, a mobile advertising agency. Provisioning the platform for building apps gives Google control of the entire ecosystem, including data -- similar to the world Apple built.

The move also increases inventory in specific categories, creating more opportunities in mobile advertising for advertisers targeting special interest groups, Lake says -- but it also can increase remnant inventory. Marketers had limited inventory as advertising on the Web emerged. CMS systems and Web development became easier and the long tail grew.

"Low-value inventory increased supply, bringing down prices," Lake says. "Agencies and brands learned from that experience, which is why they demand transparency in media buys these days, so their ad only runs on the sites where they pay remnant prices, or agree to run remnant inventory."

Bryson Meunier, associate director of search engine optimization at Resolution Media, an Omnicom Media Group company, says the move clearly has implications when it comes to the race between Apple and Google for dominance of mobile market share. Google has been gaining on Apple's market share in mobile, he says, pointing to an increase in the quality of the Android Market, frequently cited in Droid ads.

"The App Store used to be Apple's crown jewel, as it made mobile content on the iPhone more accessible than it ever had been before," he says. "Developers used to develop only for it, and it grew quickly as a result. It's still growing, but the Android Market is now almost half the size, having grown from 2,300 apps in March 2009 to more than 100,000 this month."