• Engadget, Friday, September 4, 2009 1:51 PM

To support its Android mobile operating system, Google plans to upgrade its Android Market application store with better organization, categories, screenshots, and the like. Who cares? It appears as though anyone with a stake in the future of the mobile Web.

"The news ... isn't a big deal by itself," writes ZDNet. "But when you consider the armada of Android powered devices coming to market the Android Market improvements are critical ... you can't have a bevy of Android devices without a good app store to go with it."

Sprint is preparing to offer the HTC Hero powered by Android next month. Next week, Motorola is expected to launch its Android devices, which ZDNet says are designed to save the company. T-Mobile's myTouch 3G, meanwhile, is already on the market.

Also, while what Google terms new "discoverability" improvements might seem insignificant, "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," the Google Watch blog explains. "In that sense, these promotional activities are vital to Android's success, particularly as more phones find their way into the market."

These latest improvements, says Google Watch, are a response to disgruntled developers, as the company "has taken a beating this week for the money developers aren't making from the Android Market."

As the success of Facebook and Apple's iPhone make clear, a happy and flourishing developer community is increasingly important for digital platforms to succeed.

As Engadget Mobile notes, "Evidence suggests that the Android Market has a long way to go to be a profitable enterprise for would-be developers, but the good news is that Google seems to understand -- and they're doing something about it."

Read the whole story at Engadget »