Here’s the announcement in one line: The App Inventor is a simple tool that’ll let anyone create simple mobile apps. That means anyone; including people with no programming experience. Although it should also be a given that ‘anyone’ also needs to have a computer to run it, and an Android phone for running and testing your stuff. You’re also going to need a pair of working eyes and a brain with the logical capacity to understand blocks and jigsaw puzzles as an absolute minimum—so basically, if you have the skill to get past level 5 in Tetris, or solve an easy-level Sudoku puzzle, you can do this. Probably.
Anyway, you get it, right? It’s a simple tool to for creating simple apps, with an interface that’ll let you create stuff visually with “blocks” instead of writing code. The App Inventor’s inventors already created the most common tools (blocks) you’d need to get you started, with different blocks for performing programming-type things, such as storing information, repeating actions and to perform actions under certain conditions.
App Inventor is also built to use most of the Android phone’s built-in features, such as the GPS and text messaging, as well as be linked with other apps for talking to other web sites such as Amazon or Twitter.
Here’s a quick demo video of the App Inventor in action:
Ok, that was really simple—basically an app with a button that’ll sound off a “meow” when pressed. Is there an app for that? Maybe. It’s a bit like those Vuvuzela apps (here’s one of them, for the iPhone and Android), but a bit less annoying. Anyway, if you can’t find an app for doing a simple purpose that you need, now you can make one for yourself. Check out the sample apps that can be built with App Inventor here.
You can sign up to get the App Inventor Beta toolkit here, using your Gmail address. You should be granted access “over the coming weeks,” but if you want to start getting your learn on now, check out the guides here.
Tags: Android, App Inventor, Google, Mobile Apps, Software
