Since the launch of the iTunes App Store and subsequent launch of the Android Market, I’ve been amazed that there aren’t better search solutions available. Granted, third parties have been enjoying the lack of support from the big guys themselves. For iPhone there are many, but my favorites are AppShopper and Appolicious, and for Android there’s AppBrain and others.
Now Google is entering into the game, but in a different way than I was expecting. Instead of adding a search box to the Android Market site, the company has integrated apps into search results that originate from a mobile device. For example, browsing to Google.com from your iPhone or Android device and typing in a phrase like “download shazam” will yield a search result that shows the app in the first result space.
I tried my own series of tests, and even tested the specific example offered on the Google Mobile Blog. In my case I typed bank of america app into the Google.com search box on my iPhone. It showed the app and when I clicked on the hyperlink, it launched the App Store on my iPhone, with the Bank of America app page. So, desired result achieved!
I’m still surprised that this requires you to be on a mobile device and that the search feature isn’t being added to Android Market, but at least we can now search for apps from a Google search box.
