Google Unveils App Inventor: HyperCard for Android Development?
The mobile app marketplace just got a lot more interesting if you’re an Android developer. Today, Google formally unveiled details of App Inventor, a new sort of visual app builder for Google’s Android mobile phone platform. Taking cues from app builders centered around a friendly user interface, App Inventor makes you feel like you’re putting an app together as if it were a lego set. Dragging and dropping function blocks onto the screen and visually designing the layout of the UI, App Inventor appears to be targeted more at casual developers & those looking to dabble in mobile app design.
Probably the best comparison to the desktop space would be HyperCard, Apple’s old app development system that was built around the user drawing their application and specifying simple behaviors via drop-downs & text fields, allowing more complex scripting if they wanted to delve deeper.
If App Inventor provides a robust enough feature set (simple drag-and-drop building blocks plus scripting), this could open up mobile app development to an entire new audience and give Android an edge over the much more difficult to develop for iPhone. Accessible development tools coupled with a more open and accepting marketplace could make Android an irresistible platform for dabbling tech geeks.
While it has been announced, App Inventor is not available for general use yet. Currently, Google is accepting beta applications from users, requiring users to fill out a short questionnaire that hints that perhaps Google is looking more towards education as being the target audience for the new tools.
While details are still a bit thin, App Inventor is certainly one of the most exciting announcements in mobile app dev news for some time. To whet your appetite, be sure to check out videos and a brief description of what App Inventor is on the official product page over at Google Labs.
Google App Inventor [Google Labs]
Main App Inventor UI
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