Top 50 Google Android Applications Announced

Android Developers Blog announced the top 50 finalists for their $100M challenge. The 50 finalists in this round will take a cool $10K for their hard work and continue to compete for the ultimate prize of fame and money.

Google has put together a presentation slide which showcases the top 46 out of 50 applications (4 decided to keep their project anonymous, must be brewing up some serious app). What is amazing about this project is the sense of excitement that awaits for the mobile community. All of these slick-looking, fully functional and FREE mobile applications will take the mobile experience to new height. I was already impressed by iPhone's 3rd party applications community but imagine the future where 3rd party apps are encourage in an open environment.

Some of the interesting applications I saw from the deck includes:
*TalkPlay (VOIP and Video Conferencing)
*Piggyback (plan a trip and share a ride w/ people nearby, save gas, and be green!)
*Weather Channel for Android (cool weather info w/ Google Maps integration)
*SafetyNET (alarms loved ones if you are in danger)
*FreeFamilyWatch (informs the predators in a given neighborhood)
*Golfplay (everything a golfer needs, GPS, distance, scoring)
*TuneWiki (Music player w/ lyrics in real time)
*Wikitude (Interactive Travel guide using Google Maps)

I will be waiting first in line to purchase an Android-powered phone for sure!