The Android Market is to get a long-awaited update, according to Googles Eric Chu in a recent Android Developers blog posting. issues such as lacking screenshots, better descriptions and app promotion are all to be addressed in the upcoming 1.6 version. The Market is also to get 4 new subcategories - sports, health, theme and comics, all of which is aimed at making the whole experience for users and developers a lot easier.

Many of these changes had been asked for by the developer community in light of the poor comparison with Apples iPhone App store. The largest criticism however has not been addressed - integrated billing. Users are still forced to use a Google checkout account to make purchases, rather than just have it added to their monthly phone bill. This is seen as a barrier to users making impulse or casual purchases, but to be fair requires a heck of a lot more work behind the scenes than a mere software makeover can provide.

Nevertheless, these changes will be well received by developers as they address their main concern - generating revenue.

Source: Android Developers blog