Google Offers Early Preview Of Chrome Web Store
On Wednesday at Google I/O in San Francisco, Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google, offered an early preview of the Chrome Web Store, the goals of which are to make it easier for people to find Web applications and to help developers realize the monetary fruits of their creations.
"One of the problems on the Web is that it's very hard for users to find Web apps," said Pichai, adding that this task is far easier on the mobile Web. "And when developers write apps, they need users to discover them, and they need reach."
The Chrome Web Store will support both free and paid apps and will be made available in 40 languages in 70 countries, Pichai said. Apps written for the Chrome Web Store will also work in other browsers, and the Chrome Web Store will be accessible from a dedicated tab within the Chrome browser and will also be part of Chrome OS when it launches.
Google will make the Chrome Web Store available to the Chrome developer channel "soon", according to Pichai.
In March, Google launched its Google Apps Marketplace, a place where partners can hawk their cloud-based applications that augment the functionality of Google Apps.
It's clear that Google, which now claims more than 70 million Chrome browser users, sees its user base reaching the critical mass necessary to tap into the creativity and network effects of its developer partner base.