Google launches another Android Market

INTERNET SEARCH GIANT Google has launched another Android market for phones on version 2.2 and above that brings a fresh look and more types of content.

The 'overhaul' of the Android Market brings a new home page look and layout. There's the ability to swipe between windows of apps and content such as books and films.

Google's Mobile Blog said, "Today, we're releasing a new version of Android Market which makes all of these available on phones. You'll be delighted to find we've overhauled Android Market to make it faster, easier, and more fun to discover great apps, movies, and books."

Two big additions are movies and books but the catch is that these are only available in the US, although Google plans to bring them to 'select countries' soon. Via the Videos app users can buy or rent films from $1.99 and download thousands of titles to watch offline.

In the new Android Market users can purchase books from a choice of over 3 million. Google said that it "brings the world's largest collection of digital books to your phone". Unfortunately this is also a feature that's so far available only to US users.

There are more top charts which feature newer and more relevant apps. You can swipe sideways between pages of apps such as 'Top Free', 'Featured' and 'Top Grossing'. New areas of the Google's version of the App Store include collections of apps picked by staff and also editor's choices.

The latest version of the Android Market will be rolling out to phones around the world over the next few weeks via an automatic update.

Android is currently one of the leading mobile operating systems worldwide but this has meant it has also become an attractive target for hackers and malware creators. µ