Google building online Chrome application shop

Google on Wednesday gave software developers an early peek at an online Chrome Web Store it is building as an emporium for games and other applications built for use on the Web.

Chrome Web Store is "coming soon" and will be a venue for applications, ratings, reviews, and user comments, Google vice president of product management Sundar Pichai said at the start of an annual developers conference being hosted by the Internet giant.

"There are already lots of great applications out on the Web but there hasn't been one destination where you could easily find them," Pichai said.

"Our new Chrome Web Store is an open marketplace that helps people find the best Web applications across the Internet and allows developers to reach new users."

Developers will be able to sell their creations or offer them free at the Web Store, which will be accessible from any browser.

More than 70 million people use the Chrome browser, Pichai said.

Chrome Web Store will launch later this year in more than 40 languages and 70 countries, according to Google.

Several years ago software savants shifted from crafting applications for installation on home or work computers to making programs from games to email hosted in the Internet "cloud" and accessed through Web browsers.

"The Web is the most important platform of our generation, and because it is controlled by none of us it belongs to all of us," said Google vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra.

More than 5,000 people from 66 countries have registered to attend the two-day I/O Conference offering sessions in how to craft applications to work with Android, Chrome, Wave and other Google software.