Google will offer an iPhone-like app store for Android, giving developers a central means of distributing applications on its soon-to-be-open-source mobile platform. At least, it looks that way.

Speaking at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, Android project leader Andy Rubin didn't officially announce an Android app store, but he pretty much guaranteed it's on the way.

"It would be a great benefit to the Android community to provide a place where people can go to safely and securely download content and where a billing system would allow developers to get paid for their effort," he said. "We wouldn’t have done our job if we didn’t provide something that helps developers get distribution."