El Reg has jumped on a comment by Android project leader Andy Rubin at the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) I/O developer conference to infer that the search giant is planning to offer an iTunes-like application store for its Android phones. To be fair, the comment does indicate that pretty strongly and clearly: “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.” As El Reg noted, just because Google builds an application store doesn’t mean it will get onto all the Google phones since third parties will be able to adjust the OS to suit themselves.

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