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Google Announces Web App Store for Chrome

by Terrence O'Brien on May 19, 2010 at 02:11 PM

Chrome App Launcher
Google is clearly betting on the Web being the platform of the future. We're all marching towards a day when it will no longer matter whether you use OS X or Windows or even Linux. But finding top-notch applications has largely required users to search across blogs, visit several sites, and generally have boat-loads of patience. So the Web giant has developed several products and tools for developers that make ditching your desktop for online apps easier and more attractive. With its App Store, Apple pioneered a model that others have adopted to guide consumers towards installing, buying and discovering new applications. Google now plans to take that model to the Net with the Chrome Web Store.

When it launches later this year, the Web Store will act much like the Chrome Extensions Gallery and allow users to "install" applications in their browser. The apps will be added as shortcuts to new tabs in Chrome (see image above), but, because they're built using standard Web tools, will run on any modern browser (which we take to mean anything that isn't Internet Explorer).

The apps, such as the impressive Sports Illustrated e-magazine and addictive Flash game 'Plants Vs. Zombies,' launch in fullscreen to create a seamless experience, and developers will have the option to charge for products, like the image-editing tool 'Dark Room' (which we know will cost $4.99). Developers who add their applications to the Chrome Web Store will have a massive, cross-platform audience thanks to the growing popularity of the Chrome browser and the upcoming Chrome OS.

The Web Store will, of course, be an integral part of the Chrome OS environment. With its netbook OS, Google wants the "desktop" to disappear. Instead, all user interactions will happen within the browser, but we know that users like being able to install applications (thanks to the failed experiments with the iPhone). The Chrome Store brings the comforting experience of "installing" applications online, and further blurs the line between desktop and the Web. [From: Chrome Web Store]

Tags: chrome, ChromeOs, ChromeWebStore, google, GoogleIo, top, WebApps

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