Google is getting ready to release Android App Inventor, a desktop application that will allow anyone to make apps for Android, whether they have programming experience or not. I have to say, I don’t get it.

Sure, perhaps it’s a way to boost the Android Market Place, maybe the ability to create your own apps will attract an entire audience of people who’ve been wanting something like this, maybe other mobile platforms will follow suit. I don’t think so. I think App Inventor will be used by a niche market for people who want simple apps that they don’t want to pay developers to build.

Honestly, how robust do you think we’ll be able to make apps using such a tool? Think of tools like Dreamweaver. Yes, you can do a lot with Dreamweaver in the way of designing web pages, but you only have a limited amount of functionality without manually tweaking the code. That’s because you have to understand how a computer thinks to be able to design anything but the most basic programs.

Don’t get me wrong, Google may very well have integrated a lot of functionality and ability into App Inventor, but even if they have will anyone but software developers know how to use it?

Maybe I’m wrong, I guess we’ll see. What do you think?

There's a few metrics that sell App Phones. Megapixels. Megabytes. Removable Storage. Google Integration. Facebook Integration. Number of Apps. If I want to throw an app together quickly to, say, remind me of people's birthdays, I can probably do that with App Inventor. That's one more app for the marketplace, and one step closer to taking over the world.
Devin Baldwin on 2010-07-16 10:50:24.0
Haha, well that's probably true.
Mahon on 2010-07-16 11:27:23.0
Not probably. It's true. I just know these things :)
Devin Baldwin on 2010-07-18 23:35:55.0