Google has unveiled App Inventor, a straightforward way for would-be developers who lack programming skills to create software that will run on Android smartphones. Similar to the create-your-own-game software of many years ago, App Inventor uses preset functionality blocks that together represent pretty much everything that an Android phone is capable of; by shuffling those blocks around and setting some basic parameters you should be able to create your own app.
Games, information apps and other content are all possible, with titles capable of GPS awareness, integration with the Android handset’s phone functionality, internet connectivity and more. According to the NYTimes, the company has been testing App Inventor on “sixth graders, high school girls, nursing students and university undergraduates who are not computer science majors” which should give you an idea of the sort of ability level required.
Chris
First, tools such as this greatly increase the number of spam and "cookie cutter" applications. Due to the feasibility of creating an app with this tool, many subpar and low quality applications will hit the market. Not to mention that most of them will be duplicates of fully functional apps already available in the market.
Second, these sorts of tools are double-edged swords. They are great to get new developers introduced to the scene and allow the ball to get rolling. This can also be a drawback if new developers are releasing unstable products to the market.
Overall, I think this is a good direction. But we need to proceed with caution!
The Market is already full of cookie cutter apps. Better that they be stable.
I think the potential benefits far outweigh the potential drawbacks.
I hope that App Inventor will allow you to export the source to Eclipse (or your IDE of choice) in order to allow developers to take things to the next level, so to speak.
Chris
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Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Seriously, it's an interesting model that's really suitable for students learning coding principles or for people wanting to prototype an idea.
You can't move the application to the Market at the moment, so that should save us from the proliferation of crappy apps