Android Honeycomb apps in short supply as Motorola Xoom prepares for launch

Native apps for Google’s Android Honeycomb are still scarce as one of Honeycomb’s big hitters – the Motorola Xoom – prepares for a UK launch.

Tech blogger, Justin Williams has identified just 20 applications specifically and exclusively designed for Honeycomb tablets available on the Android Marketplace, with the remainder being simply “upconverted” Android v2.0 apps.

Williams’ criteria for what constitutes a Honeycomb app is as follows; the application must require Android 3.0 or must have had its user interfaced designed solely for use with tablet devices. The app must not be an existing Android app or game that has been expanded for the larger screen resolution.

This app shortfall does not reflect well on Android as a realistic competitor to Apple and the iPad; Williams talks about the unveiling event for the iPad 2 tablet, at which Steve Jobs compared the Apple device’s app count of 65,000 to that of Android.

“You remember the slides,” Williams writes. “Jobs talked about the 65,000 apps that are designed to improve the iPad experience. He then put up a slide with the Android Honeycomb logo and the number 100. Even at that time, many considered the 100 app count to be a generous round number.”

Recent consumer analysis has revealed that a third of British tablet consumers feel that content and applications are the most important factor when purchasing a new tablet device. With this in mind, developers for the latest Google Android platform have their work cut out to make up the lost ground.

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