Gifting Android Apps this festive season!

It has been said a million times now – Applications stores are the backbones of modern smartphone platforms. Without App Store, Apple’s popular iPhone, iPad nor iOS would be of much use. The same goes for Android and all respective hardware. For the most part, all of these devices would be useless without an easy, centralized way to download apps and games.

There are applications for almost anything you can possibly imagine, all only a few finger tips away. Ported video games of yesteryear? Check. A zillion different productivity and utility apps? Check.

In recent years, mobile devices have quickly become favorite gifts for Christmas and other holidays. Kids, adults and everyone in between generally have a new smartphone, tablet or eReader on their wish list.

Considering apps are so important and mobile phones and tablets are very common gifts, the ability to gift an application is a no brainer. Apple learned this early and managed to infiltrate retail stores around the world with easily accessible gift cards to their iTunes store. With an iTunes Gift card, customers can purchase iOS applications, music and movies, and they can rent media as well.

If you were looking for a similar gift for an Android user this holiday season, I’m willing to bet you didn’t find exactly what you were looking for. While iTunes gift cards are littering retail locations at checkout lines and in every electronics department, there is no way to purchase a gift card for Android Market for someone. Millions and millions of Android users around the world have gone three long years without gifting options. It’s time Google steps up.

What say you, Androidians? Do you wish there was an easy way to gift Android applications? Would you like a gift card to the Android Market? Is there an easy way to gift premium applications that I’m simply overlooking?

[This guest post is written by  Abhinav Sarangi of PriceShred.com – An online marketplace to buy or sell used mobiles and second hand mobiles in India.]