Did you hear who has an app store now? It seems like everyone and their mother these days… But what does this mean for the future of the platform?

While consumers—Android users—in particular, seem very excited about the emergence of a host of new and different third party app stores, developers and, by extension, marketers might be more concerned about what this trend will mean for mobile development in the future.  As more crop up every day—including an Amazon app store, as well as carrier-specific stores, like Verizon’s V Cast Apps, and Motorola’s SHOP4APPS, the fragmentation of the Android operating system may become an even greater issue for those interested in developing for the platform.

Some analysts argue that app stores may become similar to retail or software distribution channels, and that they could provide benefits to the consumer by forcing vendors to offer competitive pricing and quality services.  There’s certainly some credence to that claim—for example, Amazon’s MP3 music store has forced Apple to keep the pricing of iTunes tracks reasonable and offers consumers an alternative to the arguably painstaking process of browsing through iTunes.

But despite these perks, the increase in app vendors or stores could also have some negative impacts on the development of the Android platform, which many analysts have played down.  For starters, having a multitude of app stores could cause significant confusion among Android users, which is already problematic given the fragmented nature of the operating system.  Adding another layer of variation to the equation might only lead to further misunderstandings that won’t help to sell consumers on the platform noted for “openness.”

Another issue, and one we’ve examined in previous blogs, is the total lack of quality standards for apps in the Android Marketplace.  And yes, I’ve said it before and now I’m saying it again, but no matter how you feel about Apple’s uptight regulation of the App Store, it’s undeniable that apps for iOS are held to much higher, and more consistent quality and usability standards than their Android counterparts.  With the proliferation of app stores for the Android operating system, one can only imagine that the already low standards will only decline farther—and maintaining a consistent user experience will be hopeless.

Yet, much as these changes will affect the user experience, they may have an even broader impact on how developers and marketers choose to distribute and promote Android apps.  For example, with a multitude of different app stores to select from, making a product available to all users, or even the majority of them, will be a serious challenge—and one that consumes even more time and resources from developers and marketers.  Unless developers start charging more for their apps to justify the cost of the excessive overhead that will be needed to distribute an app to Android users, many will have less incentive to actually build apps for the increasingly segmented—and therefore complicated—mobile platform.

So while the emergence of new third-party app stores does validate the mobile market in some ways—Android in particular—as it proves that that it is definitely, measurably profitable, it also raises a lot of new issues that may plague the Android operating system and in turn, users, unless some guidelines are introduced.  That doesn’t mean Google should follow Apple’s lead and micro-regulate every minute detail and feature of apps created for the platform, but at least maintaining some level of quality control and fostering a consistent user experience could improve the OS, and even help Google to nab more of the global market share.  Although there’s a lot to admire about the openness and virtual malleability of the OS software, in order for Android to actually grow and progress—and attract new users, it may be time for Google to finally step in and start managing development for the mobile platform, which has seen explosive growth over the last year.