Over on Internet2Go.net, Greg Sterling provides great background and commentary regarding a new service from Google Labs called “App Inventor” (posted at 2AM according to my Twitter clock, I might add). Greg points out that the general “spin” surrounding App Inventor revolves around Google’s efforts to build inventory in the Android App Store by putting simple-to-use tools into the hands of non-traditional programmers. Thus it is framed as a weapon in Google’s arsenal to defeat Apple’s locked-down development resources and application publishing protocols with a more accessible, open, Web-based front-end.

Framing it as a “Google v. Apple” superpower smackdown gets part of the story right; but not the most important aspect of the new service. Like most of the offerings from Google Labs (think Buzz, Wave, Translate and the original Google Voice), it is a “beta” offering. So it is very consistent with Google’s approach to lowering barriers to participation and heightening opportunities for serendipity. The elements of the offering that are “exposed” to new users appears very modest: The introductory page and video highlights access to location information (courtesy of Android’s GPS) and Android phone functions (like text messaging). This also makes it, at base, a prototypical implementation of “Recombinant Communications” (RC), a concept we introduced here over year ago, initially as “Recombinant Telephony.”

Yet this statement says it all: ” If you know how to write web apps, you can use App Inventor to write Android apps that talk to your favorite web sites, such as Amazon and Twitter.” In other words, the service is a graphically enhanced, Web-based tool for Web application development. It brings to bear the sort of high-level, drag-and-drop development environment to which a new generation of app developers have grown accustomed.

Google is not just competing against Apple in order to stock the shelves of the Android AppStore, it is vying for more ticks and attention from a growing community of “casual programmers”. In his post, Greg Sterling calls them “do-it-yourself” programmers but, in this era of peer-to-peer communications, it is more likely that Google has built the foundation for a community of like-minded folks to share ideas, tools, resources, API’s and libraries (they call them “blocks”) of code to introduce and refine new uses for mobile devices. In that respect, they are providing a level playing field where insurgent Android developers are on equal footing with the giants of code development, software publishing and service delivery.

As the “beta” label suggests, it is still an incomplete, and largely untested product. It is incomplete because it remains quite “geeky” at its core. More importantly, there is no clear path for building a business around the apps that “App Inventor” facilitates. It is a development utility that traces its roots to “educational computing” projects at MIT. Thus it is best thought of as a training ground for application developers, growing the base of prospective publishers, perhaps, but not necessarily attracting a new set of entrepreneurs. In the ideal, people who gain experience with App Inventor today, are the raw recruits for the information services industry of tomorrow.

Categories: Articles

Tags: Google, mobile applications, Recombinant Communications, Web Services