Google is organizing a series of Android Developer Labs (ADLs) that aim to help developers convert their existing smartphone applications to run on Honeycomb-based tablets, it said in a blog post this week.
The first lab is today in Bangalore. The rest will take place in the U.S., starting with two in Seattle on Aug. 15 and 16, and then in New York on Aug. 23 and 24. The last lab will be in Los Angeles on Sept. 2, according to the blog post.
The labs are specifically aimed at optimizing Android applications for tablets, according to Google. The company will, for example, detail how to redesign a smartphone user interface to take advantage of the tablet’s larger screen size. The goal is for a developer to bring an application into the lab and “leave equipped to make it into one that makes Android tablet users smile,” Google writes.
Any developer can sign up, but Google said it can only accommodate a relatively small number of attendees from among the registrants. So Google will choose who gets to attend based on whether they already have an Android application with the potential to be a top-tier tablet app in terms of quality, fit and finish, according to the company.
On Friday, Google improved the experience of using its site on tablets. The company has simplified the layout of search results pages and increased the size of page contents like text and buttons, it said in a blog post.
Apple has dominated the tablet space since the launch of the iPad in 2010. This will gradually change with the introduction of low-cost Android tablets, the wider launch of Honeycomb, also known as Android 3.0, and the possibility of other major brands such as Amazon launching tablets on the OS, according to market research company Informa Telecoms and Media.
But it will still take until 2016 before sales of Android-based tablets surpass the sales of Apple’s iPad, Informa said.
[Updated 8/2 at 5:22 p.m. PT to correct the headline.]