It’s great that Android Market now has more than 30,000 applications but it’s a pain to wade through this to find new and cool programs. AppStoreHQ is trying to solve that problem and it launched an online directory to find programs for your favorite Android phone.
“We’re huge Android fans here at AppStoreHQ, and there are thousands of great apps out there for Android users, but they’re surprisingly hard to find,” said Chris DeVore, the company’s CEO.
DeVore’s right. It’s a shame that Google hasn’t created an easy way to search for Android apps online, but it opens the door for third-party players. AppStoreHQ lets you find app and get detailed information like reviews, screen shots, prices, and more. You can also send the link to your phone with a click of a button, and there’s social networking integration to share your apps on Twitter, Facebook and e-mail. There’s also a “Hottest App” category that culls social networks to discover new programs you may not have known you wanted. The company is also offering publishers a way to create their own app directories, and DroidDog and AndroidTapp will be the first to take advantage of this.
I spoke to DeVore about the potentially short shelf life of a service like this – If Google tackles this problem, it would have a larger audience and the advantage of being deeply tied to the devices. He said his service can survive because it provides a strong overall experience and there’s also no indication that app discovery is high on Google’s to-do list. This type of service is also offered by Mplayit but that is more of a Facebook service. Regardless, these types of services will lead to the discovery of new, cool apps, and that’s always a good thing.