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In the latest indication that Apple truly is revolutionizing mobile phone technology, Google appears to be borrowing one of the most anticipated features from the forthcoming iPhone 2.0 revision.  While an official announcement has not been made, comments by Android project leader Andy Rubin indicate that an Android App Store is definitely in the works:

“It would be a great benefit to the Android community to provide a place where people can go to safely and securely download content and where a billing system would allow developers to get paid for their effort”.

The weight of these two up-and-coming names in the cell phone industry (Google and Apple) represents a complete sea change.  Previously, application distribution models have been carrier-specific.  Applications are usually available only from a single, carrier-chosen storefront, such as Verizon Wireless’ V Cast service.  Applications bought through such services are usually tied to the phone they are purchased on, and are always tied to the carrier.  With the iPhone App and Android App stores, that appears ready to change.

Although the iPhone is exclusive to AT&T in the US, Apple has made clear its lack of devotion to a one-carrier position.  Android phones, at least theoretically, will be able to make use of any network their hardware supports.  And since the applications bought through the respective stores comes from a third party rather than a wireless carrier, the applications are inherently more portable.  iPhone apps, given the limited range of hardware they will be running on, should be portable across however many iPhones a customer uses (though individual developers may restrict this freedom).  If Apple allows the iPhone to come to other GSM networks applications should still work if a user switches out an AT&T SIM card.  This works because the App Store and iTunes are controlled by Apple, the carrier network will not have the ability to impose exclusivity.  Android Apps should be similarly portable, though they may encounter technical issues given the broad range of hardware that Android may be running on in the wild.

The bottom line in all this is the boon for consumers, who have long been forced to use overpriced, under-featured, or even completely unwanted applications.  The wireless industry in America has maintained a stranglehold for so long that customers are eager for change - and it looks like it will be coming from outside the walled garden of Verizon/AT&T/Sprint/T-Mobile.  Consumers will benefit, because the iPhone and Android app stores will create an open market, driven by consumers’ needs and wants, rather than a closed system driven by profit decisions made by wireless industry executives. {ed. note: we'll agree to disagree on the Apple App Store being open rather than closed…)

Via [The Register]