Android App Builder
When Google re-branded its thriving Android Market in March of 2012, opting instead for the Google Play moniker, the theory was the new name would reinforce its brand and point to the multitude of games, apps, movies, music, and books available in the marketplace.
As most predicted Google Play became a big name instantly and the site hosts big name apps put out by Electronic Arts, Facebook, and Foursquare. What no one predicted was the rise of appsbar, a free app builder for Android.
Just one month after Google changing the name on the marquee, the start-up app development service became the single largest app publisher on Google Play.
Appsbar, an online tool that allows anyone to build and publish their own mobile app, has gone live this month after one year in beta. During that time, apps-bar has attracted over 100,000 users and the service was responsible for over 9 million app launches.
The service initially launched in April of 2011 in beta and immediately made an impact on the iTunes store with apps being published anywhere from 7 to 10 days after submission. Sensing the burgeoning popularity of Android devices, the service included an app template for Android as well.
While still in beta, apps bar eventually became a cross-platform, operating system agnostic development tool.
“Being cross platform and device agnostic finally allows mobile apps that everyone can share,” says appsbar founder Scott Hirsch. “Appsbar is bridging the gap between micro sites and native apps by creating fully functional HTML5 apps that are more than a mobile version of your website.”
Apps are submitted to the appropriate marketplace and users are notified when the app is ready for download. All appsbar apps are optimized to be shared across websites that support HTML5 programming (that's just about all of them, including Facebook).
Once the app builder hits "publish" on their creation, they get instructions on how to immediately start sharing the app on their own websites and social networks - even before it's published to an app platform.
As analysts continue to speculate over the valuation of a company who has used a “long tail” approach to cornering a piece of a market as vast as Google Play, Hirsch remains steadfast in his commitment to appsbar’s original vision of opening up the app-conomy to all comers.
“The valuation of appsbar depends on the value we give to each individual member,” said Hirsch.
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