Back in May, Google announced the idea of a Chrome Web Store. The idea behind it was to create an open marketplace for web apps where it would be easier for users to discover apps and for developers to reach a large audience.

Fast forward to today and the Chrome Web Store is open for business. Developers have already started uploading apps, and Google expects the number to grow over time. Let’s take a look.

Chrome Web Store Overview

Essentially, the Chrome Web Store is an online marketplace where you can discover thousands of apps, extensions, and themes for Google Chrome. It is featured prominently in Chrome (no surprise there), helping people discover great apps and developers reach millions of users around the world.

Once you’re in the store, you can find things by using the search box or by browsing through different categories. Every item in the store has its own page, where you can read and contribute reviews and ratings.

Here’s what you can find in the store:

• Web apps – advanced interactive websites. They may provide a wide-ranging set of features or focus on a single task like photo-editing or shopping.
• Extensions – let you add new features to your browser (e.g. an email notifier extension for email alerts).
• Themes – allow you to customize the look and feel of your browser (includes themes from leading artists/designers around the world).

If you use multiple computers, you can synchronize your apps, extensions, and theme across all your computers with browser sync.

What’s A Web App?

To get a feel for what the web app store is for in general, watch this short video by Google:

What do you think of the new Chrome Store? Tim and Justin will shortly be looking at the store in more depth.

Image Credit : Official Google Blog