Google’s Android app for renting movies imminent (video)

You probably remember Google Video, the search giant’s free video sharing site? It launched on January 25, 2005, but Google discontinued the ability to upload videos four years later following the YouTube acquisition on October 9, 2006. The company has re-branded the service as Google Videos and made it a search silo. It looks Google is now prepping a dedicated smartphone app dubbed Google Videos, reports the Android Central blog. This one has nothing to do with user-created videos – for that purpose, Google provides YouTube apps for various smartphone flavors.

According to tipsters who spotted the Google Videos app briefly in Android Market (it’s gone now), the software is basically a pretty front-end to Google’s upcoming movie rental service which was announced back in May at Google I/O 2011. Google said movie rentals would first roll out on the Xoom tablet and promised support for more devices, including Android 2.2 smartphones. Movies can be rented on Android Market starting at $1.99 and are available for offline viewing and across all Android devices and computers tied to the same Google Account. Check out the Google Videos app running on a Nexus S in the below clip.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaOhLpsoCA0]