Android 1.6 update pushing out to T-Mobile USA customers

Includes all-new and improved Android Market store

T-Mobile USA has confirmed that it is pushing out the latest update of the Android OS, 1.6 – also known as 'Donut' – to its customers.

“The over-the-air update will be delivered to all G1 and myTouch customers in the coming days,” says a statement from the operator.

Is this big news? Well, it's good news for developers, because Android 1.6 includes the improved version of Google's Android Market store, which separates out free and paid apps, and lets developers provide more text and screenshots to illustrate their apps.

Android Market has been criticised by developers since its launch for poorer discoverability than iPhone's App Store. Developers of paid apps and games have been particularly vociferous, bemoaning low sales as their apps are swamped by freebies in the Android Market listings.

The new version of the store addresses those criticisms, and so may spark an upswing in application sales. That said, Apple also recently tweaked its store, introducing the Genius recommendation feature and launching a Top Grossing apps chart.