SAN FRANCISCO — Android’s explosive growth over the past three years has been a double-edged sword for its apps. On the plus side, there are more of them than ever. On the negative side, there are more of them than ever.

Google on Wednesday announced a slew of updates aimed at improving customers’ ability to find and buy apps in the Android Market, as well as developers’ ability to sell them.

“The biggest problem we have in the Market is discovery,” said Michael Novak, Android engineer for Groupme.com, in an interview. “Google has definitely heard the complaints from people like me, and these new features being rolled out are proof.”

Navigability issues have plagued Google’s app-shopping system on the customer end, making it hard for people to find the apps they want, or even to realize that there are apps they might be interested in. For their part, developers have complained that it’s easier to make money in Apple’s App Store than it is in the Android Market.