App Inventor Lets Anyone Build Android Smartphone Apps
Android smartphone users are about to get creative. Google launched a Beta-version of its easy-to-use Google App Inventor program on Monday that is designed to let anyone build their own mobile apps.
From developing games like Whack-a-Mole to building GPS-enabled apps that help find where you parked your car, no programming experience is required.
Instead of utilizing complicated codes to piece together a program, virtually anyone can design the way an app looks by moving "blocks" of code shown through the interface as visual images.
These code pieces enable a variety of smartphone capabilities and fit together like building blocks, and they can be added and edited throughout the development process.
The App Inventor, which has been in development for a year, was reportedly tested on a group of students, ranging from sixth graders to college undergrads, to gauge its user friendliness.
The initiative is a part of an effort to give Android mobile users a chance to become more active players in the content development space. Its key competitor Apple continues to take a different approach by controlling the apps available to its namesake iPhone and iPad products.
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