Ok, folks, just a quick opinion piece here. I hope I lay down a balanced look at Android app markets – I find some to be worthwhile, and others not so much. I’ve reviewed quite a few in my Android Market Alternatives Report, and I’m always looking for new ones to add to my recommended list.

The harsh truth, however, is that outside the shiny center of the Android universe lies vast outlands, with empty app stores that have few customers and few downloads.  Some of these app stores make a great sales pitch, and some are connected to some giant and successful companies.  This makes it hard to navigate (and is one of the big reasons I keep reviewing app stores on this site).

As an example, I noticed that InMobi launched their own Android app store aggregator this week, and I was pretty excited to see what they were doing.  After all, I know that the less work it takes to release to multiple app stores, the better.  However, my enthusiasm faded when I saw that the list contained a number of app stores that are on my no-go list, and some (like Sony) show 25 separate entries since each country shows up separately.  So much for 120 app stores…

I may still submit an app and test the waters there, and will post a more detailed review.  There may be a few hidden gems in there that could make it worthwhile.

At any rate, don’t be swayed by pure numbers of app stores.  It’s high quality app stores that we’re after.