In spite of the plethora of tablets which have come out this year, the sales of Google’s Android tablets aren’t taking off. The reason behind this isn’t the lack of good hardware but the dearth of applications which are optimized for these tablets. However, Google has decided to do something about the issue. Starting next Tuesday, the company has decided to host a number of workshops which are aimed at programmers interested in designing apps for the platform.
The workshops, called the Android Developer Labs, will be one-day events hosted by Google in three cities of the United States, along with one being conducted in Bangalore, India. Tim Bray, a developer for Android, wrote in his blog that the aim of these workshops is to optimize the existing applications for tablet devices, redesigning them specifically to be used on larger screens while emphasizing on their polish and user experience.
The workshops are one of many attempts by the internet search giant to gain support for its mobile operating system. Just this Friday, Google launched a new tablet optimized version of its search engine which focused on tweaks in its user interface and adapting itself to the form factor of tablets. The company has also rolled out important changes in its Android Marketplace website in order to make it more user friendly.
However, even if the changes in aesthetics may help make the environment friendlier for customers, the fact is that there aren’t a lot of Android apps designed for tablets in the marketplace. When last checked, only 292 of the apps in Google’s store were meant for tablets running Android Honeycomb, whereas on the other hand, the Apple App Store features in excess of 100,000 iPad optimized applications.
The explanation that developers provide for this is that the standard size of the iPad and the iPhone make it much easier to design apps for them as compared to the large variation seen in Android handsets and tablets. It is expected that the situation might change when the next Android build Ice Cream Sandwich is released.
However, even as details about future plans for the OS are scant; several Google employees have hinted at the direction the platform will take with respect to apps. Matias Duarte, the Director of user experience for Android said that with Ice Cream Sandwich developers will be provided a number of tools for helping them build apps which will run seamlessly for devices featuring a range of form factors and screen sizes.
