Google today announced in its blog it has released Google Reader for Android, as a standalone app. Reader for Android has numerous features, and is only one item in an array of many the search engine giant has taken to minimize the gap between its PC and mobile offerings, which is crucial for Android’s future success as a dominate operating system.

“The app supports all the basics you’d expect like unread counts, friends, sharing, liking, and starring, but it also has a whole lot more, including:

· Multiple accounts

· Synced preferences

· Full subscription features (subscribe and search from your phone)

· Search”

Some of the app’s additional features include a folder renaming, unsubscribing and management menu, a send feature integrating Google reader with other apps, volume key navigation and more.

Google has made standalone Android versions of several Google Apps, Gmail and YouTube being among the more recent.  Google Docs has received a mobile-specific update as well, with an eye towards furthered development, especially as Apple and Microsoft head into the business world of mobile tools and applications. This somewhat recently released mobile version enables on-the-go viewing and editing of documents.

Despite of the increasing number of Google Apps made available on the mobile OS, Google still needs to develop and enhance Android further, especially with Apple, Microsoft and many others constantly expanding their reach of the mobile market. Google’s goals for Chrome OS and the upcoming Gingerbread 2.3 and Honeycomb 3.0 may help to finally realize a non-fragmented, relatively issue-free Android, which we discuss in more detail here.

In other Google news (for the reading type), their e-book retail service is nearing launch, after months of delays and legal setbacks.