Google made it clear how serious it is about the quality of its operating system, apps, and services when it launched a comprehensive update to Android Studio at its ongoing I/O conference in Mountain View yesterday. Going a step further, the California-based internet giant has now launched a program to certify those agencies who have a track record of building high-quality apps. While certified agencies will be able to flaunt their certificates to impress clients, they will also be offered training on the latest APIs, best practices and developer technologies which will help them to up their performance as far as building apps and services for Android, Chromecast, Android Wear, Google Play services, or Chrome plugins are concerned.
To be considered eligible for the certification program, these agencies will need to be members of the Google Developer Agency Program under which they will undergo training and will be able to attend events designed for software development agencies and participate in Google’s Early Access Programs. To be able to gain such a membership, they will need to demonstrate their expertise in building apps, name their top clients, provide their portfolios and explain which technologies they are using to build apps for their clients. Along with offering beneficial programs to developers, Google has also upgraded the Android Studio and has introduced new developer-friendly features in its latest Android N mobile operating system, including a change in the Quick Settings menu which will let developers define their own Quick Settings tiles. Even though Google has advised developers to use such freedom only in case of “urgently required or frequently used” features, they can still use the feature to arrange tiles to enable end users to have more control over certain elements in their apps.
Until last year, developers of Android apps were only able to build their apps on Windows or Mac devices, but are now able to build and modify such apps on Google’s ChromeOS platform as well. Such a development has also allowed developers to understand ChromeOS better and a large number of them are now building apps and plugins for Chrome as we speak. The progress has been so remarkable that Google is reportedly mulling about building APIs that would allow apps to run both on Android and ChromeOS devices. Thanks to Google’s Developer Agency Program and other initiatives, this is a happy time for developers who wish to continue building high-quality apps and services for Android and other platforms in the near future.