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| Developer(s) | |
| Initial release | October 22, 2008 |
| Operating system | Android |
| Type | Software store |
| Website | http://www.android.com/market/ |
Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android devices. An app called "Market" is preinstalled on some Android devices and allows users to browse and download applications published by third-party developers, hosted on Android Market.
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History
The Android Market was announced on 28 August 2008 and was made available to users on 22 October 2008. Priced application support was added for US users and developers in the US and UK in mid-February 2009. UK users gained the ability to purchase priced applications on 13 March 2009.
As of 17 March 2009, there were about 2,300 applications available for download from the Android Market, according to T-Mobile chief technical officer Cole Brodman.[1]
By December, 2009, there were over 20,000 applications available for download in the Android Market.[2]
Priced applications
Developers of priced applications receive 70% of the application price, with the remaining 30% going to carriers. Revenue earned from the Android Market is paid to developers via Google Checkout merchant accounts. T-Mobile, the first carrier with an Android device, recently began an Android Market update with Google to allow apps to be billed to the account and show up as a charge on the bill.
Availability for users
Priced applications are currently only available to Android Market users in the following countries:
Australia
Austria
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
New Zealand
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Japan
Google announced in an email to Android Market developers that they "will add end user support for additional countries in the coming months."
Availability for developers
Early on, only developers in the US and UK were able to publish priced applications. In an email to Android Market developers on 2 April 2009 Google wrote: "we are hard at work to enable developers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, and Spain to offer priced applications in the coming weeks. Once merchant support for priced apps are live in these countries, we will announce our plans for launching support for developers in additional geographies."
This was partly realized and for the time being, developers from Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK and the US can sell priced applications on the Android Market.[3]
Australian developers cannot publish priced applications despite the ability to download priced applications from the Android Market. Why Australia cannot publish priced applications is open to much speculation. However Japan and Italy have now been added.
Unlike the iPhone App store, there is no requirement that Android apps be acquired from Android Market. Android apps may be obtained from any source including a developer's own website.
Banned applications
On 31 March 2009, Google pulled all tether applications from the Android Market.[4] Google later restored the applications for Android Market users, except those inside the T-Mobile US network:[5]
"On Monday, several applications that enable tethering were removed from the Android Market catalog because they were in violation of T-Mobile's terms of service in the US. Based on Android's Developer Distribution Agreement (section 7.2), we remove applications from the Android Market catalog that violate the terms of service of a carrier or manufacturer.
We inadvertently unpublished the applications for all carriers, and today we have corrected the problem so that all Android Market users outside the T-Mobile US network will now have access to the applications. We have notified the affected developers."
See also
- Android
- List of Android devices
- List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices
- List of Android OS-related topics
References
- ^ Stephen Lawson (17 March 2009). "Android Market Needs More Filters, T-Mobile Says". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/article/161410/android_market_needs_more_filters_tmobile_says.html.
- ^ "Android Market Going Strong, Now Has 20,000 Apps". Maximum PC. 15 December 2009. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/android_market_going_strong_now_has_20000_apps. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
- ^ "Supported locations for merchants". Android Market Help. http://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=150324.
- ^ http://www.falsedichotomies.org/node/73
- ^ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10210515-94.html
External links
- Android Market
- AndroidZoom - Android Market Browser
- T-Mobile myTouch Applications
- Android Developers Blog: Android Market
- Android Developers
- Touch-market's Online Android Market Directory
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