Google updates Android Market app discovery features

Google has tweaked its Android Market app store to make it easier for users to find new apps.

Among the new and updated features is a revamped top apps charts which now shows top free, top paid and top grossing lists on the homepage, Google said on Wednesday.

The company also said that the related apps section, displayed on the left of an app page, now shows two different categories of related app; ones that are frequently browsed by people looking at the app and ones that are frequently installed alongside the current app.

An Editors' Choice section provides hand-picked apps chosen by Android Market staff from the entire app catalogue and a trending apps section quickly highlights the apps that are growing quickly in terms of daily installs.

Rounding off the list of tweaks is a top developers section, which launched with an initial set of 150 developers. Appearing in the top developers section also earns the developer a different icon on the Android Market.

Google said the Android Market now has more than 200,000 apps and that more than 4.5 billion app installs since launch.

The updated Market categories are currently only accessible via http://market.android.com but Google said it will be bringing them to the Android Market on phones and tablets soon.