Sprint to offer app packs on Android phones

NEW YORK, USA: Sprint Nextel is planning a service to make it easier for consumers to get what they want from the thousands of applications available for phones based on Google Inc Android.

Sprint said on Wednesday that starting next week it would offer its customers packs, or collections of related applications so they do not have to search through the Android App store to find each one separately.

For example, fans of Disney character Hannah Montana could download a pack with one app that has a news feed, another with a merchandise store and another with information about musicians with a similar style to Montana,

Yahoo! will offer packs including email, search, news, sports and finance-related information.

Sprint director of product management Kevin McGinnis said the company had developed the Sprint ID service to help customers who were having trouble finding what they want on the Android application store, which offers many thousands of apps.

"Users are extremely frustrated with the market place because they still have to go find stuff that is relevant and useful," McGinnis said in a telephone interview before Sprint unveiled the service at the CTIA wireless trade show in San Francisco.

Sprint said its initial partners for the service include Amazon, Comcast, Electronic Arts, eBay and RadioShack as well as Yahoo and Disney. It will open the service to all application developers in the coming weeks