Google Contest for best Apps and does a huge difference to Android Market

                 

Google gave up US$10 million in prize money to developers of the best applications for its nascent mobile platform for winners of the Android Developer Challenge. In doing so, Google also helped to stock the shelves of Android Market.

• Development teams of the top 10 applications each received $275,000.
• The 10 next-best applications got $100,000.
• Another 30 applications were recognized as finalists.

There's GoCart, which uses the phone's camera to scan a bar code while you're shopping and then price-compares like items from nearby stores and online retailers and provides inventory data and user reviews. Compare Everywhere, a similar product, also helps manage shopping lists.

An extremely clever app is cab4me, which combines GoogleMaps, GPS and cell data to hail a cab to your location with just one button-press. No phone call, no directory assistance. You don't even need to know where you are.

It's remarkable that an operating system released only last November has spawned so many great and useful applications, especially when they involve technologies as complex as mobile cell networks, global positioning and the restrictions of embedded programming. The first phones to use Android, which is Linux-based, could be available to consumers as early as October, according to an August 14 report in the New York Times.