Good news for those hoping to strike gold in the mobile app development game, Google has its next generation development platform available for download now. Currently an early access preview Android Studio is free to download and evolving fast.

Announced at the recent Google I/O conference Android Studio is Google’s new PC based development environment for their Android OS. Mobile app development for Android has taken a leap forward.

Using industry standards such as JAVA and HTML5, instead of developing a new language of their own, Google has cut their workload down to the tools important to efficient app development. Version control, testing and debugging along with layout tools are all being feverishly assembled.

Android developers currently using Eclipse will have an easy time shifting over to Studio, although there are few advantages to the shift at the moment while Studio is in early release mode. Google still has many features to add to the IDE, the early preview is relatively bug free but a number of features are still in the works.

These are all healthy signs for Android’s blossoming developer tool kit, but wait there is more. Joining Google’s new dev tools are RFO Basic and Basic4Android, bringing an old friend to our new gadgets. Able to compile native android code while also combining the ease of use of the BASIC language the options for developers are multiplying fast.

Good development software is essential to building a healthy software ecosystem, Android Studio is definitely a step in the right direction for Google, and keen developers can jump in and begin churning out apps right now. Over coming months and years Studio should develop into an essential tool for all Android developers.

Reference: Android Studio
Reference: Getting Started with Android Studio
Reference: Basic4Andoid
Reference: RFO Basic
Reference: InfoWorld