There’s an app inventor for that

This can change a few things. Today, Google is making App Inventor for Android available to everyone. It is a visual interface for creating apps for Android phones.

I’m sorry but I haven’t tried this tool so it isn’t a review. But this has a great deal of potential.

• Maybe, just maybe, it might create a more robust market for Android apps by reducing the friction required to create and distribute apps. I don’t think this will make any programmer-wannabes rich though. Let’s see how this works out.
• There will be some geeks who will love the ability to make their own apps.
• This is a great opportunity for a company to turn Android phones into productive tools. They should be able to customize apps that work specifically for their coworkers. This could make Android phones the default device for corporate types like the Blackberry used to be.

I’m kind of an automation geek. Thirteen years ago I got to be good at AppleScript because I needed tools that would do a lot of work for me. This looks right up my alley. And I bet there are lots of people out there who will get good at this too. That will mean a lot of people will be solving a lot of problems  with their phones.

Or at least invent apps that get the ball rolling. It may take a programmer or two to polish it or finish the solution. But this has a lot of potential.

Let’s see how far we can take it.