谷歌应用商店Android Market总因低劣的用户体验而备受诟病，这也是该应用商店经常卖不动产品的症结所在。但谷歌也意识到了这一点，并于日前宣布将在今后两周时间内，对Android Market的一些问题进行修复和调整。

android-market

谷歌高管Eric Chu在Android Developers博客中表示，将对Android Market进行“重大调整”，改版后的Android Market适用于运行Android 1.6及其升级版本的手机平台，称该应用商店的改革将促进Android应用产品的销售，优化用户的搜索和消费体验，让开发商的应用销售更加顺利。”

据游戏邦了解，Android Market的调整内容如下：

*用户主界面和应用分类界面：将显示更详细的应用内容，方便用户快速浏览促销应用，通过链接进入应用下载页面。

*增加新的应用分类目录：Widgets（小部件）和Live Wallpapers（壁纸）。系统将自动对附带小部件和壁纸的应用进行归类。

*增加更多热门应用和游戏的分类排行榜。

Android Market changes

另外要提醒各位Android用户注意，该应用商店原先的24小时无条件退款政策也已经缩短至15分钟。大家最好速战速决，买东西之前要做好决定。

VentureBeat网站戏称，“这项政策变化让开发商更加确信，在Android Market卖东西意味着自己的产品正在做特价促销。”

除此之外，Android Market还推行了应用分级制度，以改变人们对该应用商店充斥黄色内容的不良印象。

但比起苹果App Store，Android Market仍然落后一大截。虽然该应用商店的产品规格限制也已经从原来的25MB上升到了50MB，但仍落后于App Store的2GB应用下载限制。iPhone可以支持无线安装应用软件，但Android手机却不行。

据Apple Insider网站所称，“虽然手机供应商会限制下载应用的大小（一般仅限20MB），但苹果却有办法让用户通过Wi-Fi直接从iTunes下载更大的应用软件，或者通过iTunes的同步功能实现这种操作。”另外，谷歌至今没有推出运行于电脑平台的Android Market，甚至也没有开发网页版本，“这种情况很不利于开发商向Android平台开发和投放产品。”

VentureBeat网站还指出，因为Android Market的功能缺陷，中国有20多家运营商只好推出了自己的应用商店。

一家名为Android Police的网站更是不留情面，直言改版后的Android Market“更糟糕了”。

有一个评论员表示，“有助于应用搜索的重大调整究竟在哪里？如果你自己去瞧瞧，就会发现只是用户界面换了张脸，枉费我盼了这么多个月。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Android Market gets redesign, reduces refund window

The Android Market has taken some hits for its poor user interface, one that made it hard to discover and sell apps.

Now the Android Market from Google (GOOG) is being freshened and updated with a new “ecosystem.” Or as Apple Insider preferred “rewarmed.”

Android’s Eric Chu said in the Android Developers blog that a “significant update” was being phased into the Android Market over the next two weeks, affecting devices with Android 1.6 or higher.

He said the idea was to introduce features “that improve merchandising of applications, streamline the browse-to-purchase experience, and make it easier for developers to distribute their applications.”

Among the changes:

—A carousel on the home and category screens to enables users to flip through to see promoted apps and immediately reach the download page.

—Introduction of new categories for Widgets and Live Wallpapers. Apps with widgets and wallpapers will be added automatically to these categories.

—Addition of more categories for popular apps and games.

But caveat Android. The refund time for apps will go from 24 hours to 15 minutes. No more buying a 99 cent game, playing it for a nearly a day and returning it. Pretty much: you buy it, you own it.

Dean Takahashi in Venture Beat said: “With that change, developers can be confident that when they make a sale on the Android Market, they can be reasonably certain that it will count as a sale.”

Also, gone are the tabs. And the Android Market has gone “green,” emphasizing the color anyway in the new ecosystem.

Still, there are problems.

Google now makes it possible for apps of up to 50 MB to be downloaded, doubling the previous size. In contrast, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhones are not limited, as are Android phones, to over-the-air downloads.

In a piece entitled “Google rewarms Android Market, still half baked next to iPhone App Store,” Daniel Eran Dilger of Apple Insider noted: “While mobile providers can limit the download size of apps that are delivered over the mobile network (typically set at around 20MB), Apple allows users to get big apps from iTunes directly via Wi-Fi or by syncing with iTunes.”

He noted that Google offers no desktop application version of Android Market, nor even a web version that supports downloads. “This results in more difficult development and distribution for companies trying to port apps to Android,” he said.

Venture Beat noted that 20 carriers in China have created their own markets because of Android Market’s deficits.

Android Police takes a look at the new Android Market, declaring it “slicker.”

“However, where is the big change that will help us discover apps? The update is, after you dig into it, just a UI lift. I was expecting more after so many months,” noted one commentator.（source:appolicious）