New Android Market leak shows redesign
updated 05:20 pm EDT, Tue September 1, 2009
New Android Market photos
A pair of photos of the new Android Market have been revealed ahead of what is expected to be their official debut at Motorola's Android event on September 10th. The photos are not the final build of the app store and may therefore change and are also understood to have originated from the upcoming Motorola Sholes handset. Other than a cosmetic change, there is a new organization of the store, including a search button in the upper corner of the screen, as well as buttons for Top Paid, Top Free and Just In apps. Each tab has a preview of a few apps for each category as well.
The source of the photos also noted that the updated Android Market will ship with the Donut (1.6) update of Android, while the Motorola Sholes handset has Eclair (2.0 preloaded, which is slated for a much later release.
Significantly, the changes seem to address some of the issues blamed for the Android Market's relatively low profits, at least when compared to Apple's App Store. Critics have accused Google of favoring free apps over paid and rendering it difficult to succeed as a commercial Android app developer. [via CNET]
