Google have shown off another part of the Android OS, by revealing the Android Market, their answer to the iPhone App Store. The Android Market will be free for anyone to add apps to, as it requires no approval process to have your stuff put up in the listings (although how would you control so many apps without some kind of monitoring?). This has a big advantage over the Apple App Store, which currently requires apps to be approved before they have a chance of making the store itself. Other than that, the Market is very similar to the iPhone App Store in the sense that it is one place where all the Apps are, as well as providing easy updating.

The only thing I can really see as a problem here is that Android is a free, open OS that will be available to all phone companies to use. The inherent problem with this is that there will be many different types of phones, some with big screens, some with small screens, some with certain features (maybe GPS etc), some without. How will developers make their apps so that they work across this vast selection of phones? This works on the iPhone and iPod Touch, as they have the same screen size, and mostly the same features. Obviously, the iPod Touch lacks GPS and a cell connection, but Location Services still work on the Touch if you are connected to a mapped Wi-Fi hotspot.The main issue here is how developers will Develop apps so that they work across the wide selection of Android we can expect.

Still, the “Market” is a great idea to make Android phones even more easy to use and desirable as a phone OS. It will certainly be a change from scouring the web for Apps you want like you still do with Nokia phone or BlackBerry devices. It’s good to see that the Android OS doesn’t look too shabby either, and whilst many would argue that the design doesn’t matter, in all honesty it does. People want something that looks great these days (which in some cases is the sole reason why people buy phones, especially the iPhone).

Let’s just hope that Android will be released without all the problems that the iPhone has (and still is) plagued with.

Read more about the Android OS over at the Official Blog.