Copied from my post on the uTest blog.
Google’s off to a pretty intense start in 2011 – from a change in CEO to launching new products that compete directly with some of the biggest tech companies including Microsoft, Amazon and of course, Apple.
It’s no secret that web and mobile apps represent a lot of money to businesses and app markets are in a race to keep up. Google is using this as an opportunity to greatly expand their presence — and the early returns are impressive. In fact, the Android app market is growing 3x faster than Apple’s iOS market (although, as its marketshare grows, it become a more attractive target to black hat malware apps).
Google isn’t stopping there, though. They’ve recently launched their Shopper app on iOS – an alternative to Amazon’s really nice native apps – and the “One Pass†a publisher subscription alternative to Apple.
In case that’s not enough of a running start for the first 45 days of the year, Google is also rumored to be launching a digital music store. All of these items, coupled with more frustration about Apple’s policies and Verizon’s “not terribly hot†iPhone sales should spark Apple to step it up.
Obviously we’re quite excited about Google’s latest developments. We love the increased competition and resulting innovation in the mobile app space – which (selfishly) means more projects for uTesters and a better choices and products for consumers.
