Google Announces App Inventor

Google announced App Inventor today, what seems to be “drag-and-drop” Android app maker for non-programmers.  Anyone had a chance to play around with it yet?

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out for Google.  On one hand, I can see app development becoming more accessible to casual programmers/non-programmers, and letting Android market catch up a bit with Apple’s App Store.  On the flip side, the Android Market may just fill up with yet more mediocre apps.  That, along with its mediocre search and browsability, will be a huge loss for the Android Market.  But if Google can improve users’ ability to discern quality apps from subpar ones (via a centralized webapp for Android App info, ratings and rankings, or just better search on the devices), the mediocre apps may just fall by the wayside.

The video of the App Inventor is pretty funny though:

Any thoughts on the App Inventor launch?

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