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Android Market

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Android Market
Developer(s)Google
Initial releaseOctober 22, 2008 (2008-10-22)
Operating systemAndroid
Size80,000 apps [1]
TypeSoftware store
Websitehttp://www.android.com/market/

Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android devices. An application program ("app") called "Market" is preinstalled on some Android devices and allows users to browse and download apps published by third-party developers, hosted on Android Market. The website, rather than the Market app itself, provides details of some of the available apps, in particular those that are termed "Featured", "Top Paid" and "Top Free".

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 U.S. users and developers in the U.S. and UK in mid-February 2009. UK users gained the ability to purchase priced applications on 13 March 2009.

On 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.[2]

By December 2009, there were over 20,000 applications available for download in the Android Market.[3]

By August 2010, there are over 80,000[4] applications available for download in the Android Market, with over 1 billion application downloads[5][6]. Recent months (in 2010) have shown an ever increasing growth rate, recently (in May 2010) surpassing 10,000 additional applications per month.[7]

A report in July 2010 by Distimo showed that the Android Market features the highest percentage of free apps, with over 57% being free to download, double the amount of Apple Inc.'s App Store, in which only 28% of apps are free. Other competitors, such as Nokia's Ovistore and Blackberry's App World had 26%, with Windows Marketplace only having 22%.[8]

Priced applications

Developers of software (apps) receive 70% of the application price, with the remaining 30% distributed among carriers (if authorized to receive a fee for applications purchased through their network) and payment processors.[9] 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 updated the market to allow Google to directly bill app purchases to a customer's cell phone account that show up as a charge on the bill.

Availability for users

Paid applications are currently available to Android Market users in following countries:

Country Users can purchase apps[10] Developers can sell apps[11]
 Argentina No Yes
 Australia No Yes
 Austria Yes (except MVNO) Yes
 Czech Republic No No
 Canada No Yes
 Belgium No Yes
 Brazil No Yes
 Denmark No Yes
 Finland No Yes
 France Yes Yes
 Germany Yes Yes
 Hong Kong No Yes
 Ireland No Yes
 Israel No Yes
 Italy Yes Yes
 Japan Yes Yes
 Mexico No Yes
 Netherlands Yes Yes
 New Zealand No Yes
 Norway No Yes
 Poland No No
 Portugal No Yes
 Russia No Yes
 Singapore No Yes
 Sweden No Yes
 Switzerland No Yes
 Taiwan No Yes
 South Korea No Yes
 Spain Yes (except MVNO) Yes
 Switzerland No Yes
 United Kingdom Yes Yes
 United States Yes Yes

Users reported problems with at least several mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in some of the countries listed above whose subscribers can't access priced applications.

As of 30 April 2010, these problems were fixed, and users of BOB and Jazztel have reported[13] the market showing the paid downloads too.

Availability for developers

Early on, only developers in the U.S. 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 U.S. can sell priced applications on the Android Market.[11]

Unlike with the iPhone, 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 or from any of the 3rd party alternatives to Market which exist and can be installed on Android devices alongside Market.

Banned applications

On 31 March 2009, Google pulled all tethering applications from the Android Market.[14] Google later restored the applications for Android Market users, except those inside the T-Mobile USA network:[15]

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.[15]

As of 20 May 2010, PDAnet, Easy Tether and Proxoid were all available in the U.S. market for T-mobile users.

Implementation details

The applications themselves are self-contained Android Package files. The Android Market does not install applications itself, rather it asks the phone's PackageManagerService to install them. The package manager can be seen directly if the user tries to download an APK file direct to their phone. Applications can be installed to the phone's internal storage, and can also be installed to the owner's external storage card under certain conditions.[16]

App Security

Android devices can run apps written by third party developers and distributed through the Android Market or one of several other app stores. Once they've signed up, developers can make apps available immediately, without a lengthly approval process. Because of this, Android devices may be more vulnerable to malware or virus infection.

When an app is installed, Android displays all required permissions. At that point the user can decide whether or not to install the application. The user may decide not to install an application whose permission requirements seem excessive or unnecessary. A game may need to enable vibration, for example, but should not need to read messages or access the phonebook.

App permissions include things like:

  • Accessing the Internet
  • Making phone calls
  • Sending SMS messages
  • Reading and writing to the installed memory card
  • Accessing a user's address book data

While there have been little or no malware attacks in the wild, the possibility exists, and so security software companies have been developing applications to help ensure the security of Android devices. SMobile Systems, one such manufacturer, makes the claim that 20% of the apps in the Android Market request permissions that could be used for malicious purposes. They also state that five percent of the apps can make phone calls without the user's intervention.[17][18][19] Note that they are not claiming that the apps actually are malicious, just that the possibility exists.

Known Issues

A widespread issue has been reported by hundreds of users which inhibits their ability to download apps from the marketplace. Some user issues related to the migration of UK users from googlemail.com adresses to gmail.com [20], but the majority are still unresolved, despite a number of suggested fixes. The two most popular questions on android technical help relate to the issue, with hundreds of unanswered queries[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jerry Hildenbrand (9 September 2010). "Android Market has more than 80,000 apps, Android's Rubin says". Android Central.
  2. ^ Stephen Lawson (17 March 2009). "Android Market Needs More Filters, T-Mobile Says". PC World.
  3. ^ "Android Market Going Strong, Now Has 20,000 Apps". Maximum PC. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  4. ^ Jerry Hildenbrand (9 September 2010). "Android Market has more than 80,000 apps, Android's Rubin says". Android Central.
  5. ^ "Android Market Has 100,000 Apps & Passes 1 Billion Downloads". 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  6. ^ "Android Market Htis 1 Billion Downloads & 100,000 apps". 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  7. ^ "Android Market statistics from AndroLib, Androlib, Android Applications and Games". Androlib.com. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  8. ^ "Google Android has double the number of free apps than Apple's App Store". Distimo. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  9. ^ "Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement (USA)". android.com.
  10. ^ "Supported locations for distributing applications". Android Market Help.
  11. ^ a b "Supported locations for merchants". Android Market Help.
  12. ^ "Why the operator Simyo in Spain is now banned/blocked to show paid appplications in Market? - Android Market Help". Google.com. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  13. ^ "Issue 3852 - android - No paid apps in market after changing SIM card! - Project Hosting on Google Code". Code.google.com. 2009-09-10. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  14. ^ "Banned from the Market... ok". False Dichotomies. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  15. ^ a b Krazit, Tom (2009-04-02). "Google restores tethering app for Android users outside U.S. | Wireless - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  16. ^ http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/install-location.html
  17. ^ "SMobile Systems Analysis of Android App Store Reveals Massive Potential for Malware and Viruses". prnewswire.com. 2009-06-22. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  18. ^ "Threat Analysis of the Android Market" (PDF). smobilesystems.com. 2009-06-22. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  19. ^ "20 % des applications de l'Android Market demandent l'accès à des données personnelles". Le Monde. 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  20. ^ "gmail.com UK issues". bitterwallet.com.
  21. ^ "Android Technical Help Forum". google.com.

Third Party Market Alternatives

  • AndAppStore - Alternative App Store with its own download client (no country restrictions)
  • AppsLib - Alternative apps market provided by Archos (currently limited to Archos devices)
  • SlideME - Alternative/Complementary Android Marketplace (no country restrictions)
  • Adroia - Alternative market with payment solution, Pay by Intent and Pay by URL (Norway only)

Utilities for browsing Android Market

Template:Digital distribution platforms

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