Latest android market
Paid Apps Coming to Android Market in Q1 2009
With the release of Android and the Android Market opening it’s doors for our downloading pleasure, I’m probably like the rest of you and have been anxiously awaiting the day I could put down some cash for some epic Android apps. The free apps available thus far have been good and many have whetted our appetites for what the Android platform is capable of, but of course we want more!
More is on the way, and likely as soon as Q1 2009. Ross Miller over at engadget mobile reports that Eric Chu of Google has emailed registered Android Market members with news that paid apps are still coming in Q1 of ‘09. According to Chu, paid apps will first roll out to the U.S. and the U.K., followed by Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain. More countries will be announced later. Also, developers will have the ability to market their apps to specific countries. When developers can make some payola for their apps, it’s certain to mean more variety and higher quality of apps - just look at the explosion of Apple’s App Store. Will the Android Market explode in similar fashion?
Jeffrey Sharkey Delivers Two More Apps Before Joining Google
Jeffrey Sharkey, the wizard behind CompareEverywhere (formerly Scan) and Android Developer Challenge winner (earning him a cool $250,000), is starting a new job at Google where he will join the Android team. Congrats, Jeffrey!
Before he starts working behind the scenes of this beloved OS, he dropped two more apps into the Android Market for us to download and enjoy - GroupHome and OilCan. GroupHome organizes your Android apps by the same category system found in the Android Market and makes it easier to delete apps or display more details about your apps. OilCan is the Android version of GreaseMonkey and helps you customize any website via insertion of JavaScript and much more.
We thank Jeffrey for the apps he’s developed for the Android community and wish him the best as he starts working on Android for Google!
Visa App Available for Android
The Visa Mobile Application (Visa Mobile BETA) is now available for Android, is in the Android Market, and you can download it to your T-Mobile G1. At this point in time, you need to be a Chase Visa cardholder. With this app, you can get real-time alerts to track your daily transactions and get offers on special deals for cardholders. This is also a great way to track for unauthorized use of your card, particularly in this day and age of more frequent identity theft. Chase partner cards (airline, retail, or university partners) are not supported at this time. It’s a free download, so if there are any Chase Visa cardholders out there willing to give the app a spin, let us know in Comments what you think!
Top 10 Most Downloaded Android Apps
Medialets has come again with some Android Market statistics, this time for the month of November. The top 10 list is a combination of some games, some social networking tools, and some multimedia applications. Not a bad mix for a still green smartphone platform.
The number one application, and the only one to reach the “More than 250,000″ download range is Namco’s Pac-Man. Us Android Users definitely have a soft spot for tradition, don’t we? MySpace Mobile and the Weather Channel are 2 and 3, respectively.
Here’s the full list:
- Pac-Man by Namco
- MySpace Mobile
- The Weather Channel
- ShopSavvy
- Ringdroid
- imeem Mobile
- Shazam
- Rings Extended
- Bonsai Blast
- Brain Genius Deluxe
[via Gizmodo]
Loopt Available in the Android Market
Loopt, a popular social networking app already available on the iPhone and BlackBerry, is now available for the low, low price of FREE in the Android Market! Loopt utilizes the built-in GPS on your T-Mo G1 or other Android handset to show you the location of all your friends so you can look in on them and see what they’re doing. Hey, what’s privacy between friends, right?
Among the many features offered by Loopt, you can get background location updating, view the location of your friends live via satellite view and map mode, and even traffic delay monitoring. If you want to pick up Loopt for your G1, just head over to the Android Market for the free download or use your G1’s browser to download it via http://loopt.com.
Phoload Brings Android Support for Free Apps & Games
Phoload is a relatively new site that offers free games & applications to a multitude of mobile platforms — after today, we can now include Android. Phoload is unique because it offers a “community approach” to its applications and games. We’re not exactly sure what that means but it can only be a good thing since all the apps listed are free!
You can access their Android App Lineup either through www.phoload.com/android or if you’re surfing on your G1: www.phoload.com. Pretty simple, eh? The bigger picture with all this is that there may soon be too many avenues to get apps for Android — this could potentially lead to confusion among users especially if a popular app is available in only a few destinations. Hopefully downloading software for Android doesn’t get much harder than using Android Market..
[Phoload via Androinica]
T-Mobile G1 Gets Facebook App
When the MySpace App for Android first released, we at Android Central immediately thought, “Where’s the Facebook App?” And though Facebook told us that they weren’t going to be making an “official” Android Facebook application, we had high hopes in the Android Community for pulling one off. Insert fBook.
fBook is made from the good guys over at Next Mobile Web. It is essentially the same as the mobile Facebook except that it includes picture uploading and push capabilities. Anyone familiar with the great iPhone web app should feel at home with fBook. Go give it a download and tell us how you feel!
Photo Credit: Android Community
Turn your G1 into a Baby Toy with Toddler Lock!
Score one… er, G1… for the toddlers! Some creative developers have succeeded in rendering a sophisticated G1 into a baby’s plaything. Available in the Android Market, Toddler Lock let’s your child (or anyone else’s child, if you dare hand over your G1) conjure up random shapes, colors and sounds on your G1’s touchscreen with just some taps and swipes. This could very well be entertaining for some adults too!
Toddler Lock requires pressing three buttons simultaneously to deactivate to avoid errant data entry (or loss) while your G1 is a toddler’s toy, but it can also serve as a creative and fun way to secure your data from adults unfamiliar with your 3-button combination.
Check out a video provided by Rob Jackson over at phandroid.com and then just make sure your toddler isn’t teething before you hand over your G1!
Android Gets Game Boy Emulator
The great thing about having an open market is that apps that might not be accepted in other app stores have a clear path for release in Android Market. For example, there are emulators galore for the iPhone yet you won’t find them in the App Store, you’ll have to jailbreak it to take advantage. With the T-Mobile G1 and Android? Well you can download a Game Boy Emulator right in Android Market. Hint: It’s called AndroidBoy.
AndroidBoy is a fairly basic emulator that supports Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. There doesn’t look to be a d-pad so the controls may be a little different than what you’re used to. Either way, emulators are fun so go have fun and download AndroidBoy!
[Gizmodo]
More Android Market Stats and Numbers
Medialets has come through with more Android Market stats and as always, they make for a good story. According to Medialets, here are the highlights:
- 167 Apps have been downloaded between between 667,000 and 2.9 Million times.
- Downloads are being driven by 41 apps, which account for between 73% and 83% of all possible downloads.
- Two applications, Pac-Man by Namco and The Weather channel generated the most downloads (50,000 - 250,000).
- Although download ranges can be very large, growth on the low-end was still nearly 80% during the first week.
- 5 Categories account for 61% of all apps.
- The number of apps has nearly tripled since launch, led by the Games, Tools and Productivity categories.
