Android developer Larva Labs sees 50 per cent boost in sales thanks to Donut

Let’s be honest: the old-style Android Market was something of a mess. Depressingly designed and seriously lacking in visual content, it made the process of shopping for apps a dour and dismal experience.

Thankfully, the new 1.6 “Donut” update has changed that to a degree: gone is the disheartening black colour scheme and in its place we have an attractive white design.

As well as boasting improved navigation, the 1.6 Market offers developers the ability to post screenshots from their games, which makes assessing the merits of each download a heck of a lot easier.

While this transformation makes things more agreeable from an end-user’s perspective, it’s also been a massive boost for developers, too.

Battle for Mars creator Larva Labs has reported that it’s witnessed a 50 per cent increase in sales since the 1.6 update. Admittedly, the figures are still well below what your average iPhone dev would earn but it’s a positive step in the right direction, at least.

The news will unquestionably come as quite a fillip for Larva Labs, as the studio has been rather scathing about Android’s commercial viability in the past.

Larva Labs is still undecided about whether or not it will continue to support Android, but with a flood of new handsets hitting the market - including the awesome-looking Droid from Motorola - it would seem that big things are afoot for Google’s mobile operating system.