BlueStacks
![]() | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (October 2012) |
File:BlueStacks Logo.jpg | |
Industry | Virtualization, Mobile Software |
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Headquarters | California , United States |
Products | App Player |
Operating system | Windows XP or later; Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later |
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Available in | English |
License | Freeware |
Website | www![]() |
Bluestacks is a Silicon Valley-based software company that produces BlueStacks App Player and BlueStacks Cloud Connect. Both products revolve around enabling Android applications to run on Windows PCs, Macintosh computers and Windows tablets. The company was founded in 2009 by Rosen Sharma, former CTO at McAfee and board member of Cloud.com.
Products
The company officially launched May 25, 2011, at the Citrix Synergy conference in San Francisco. Citrix CEO Mark Templeton demonstrated an early version of BlueStacks onstage and announced that the companies had formed a partnership. App Player and Cloud Connect officially launched into public alpha on October 11, 2011.[1] App Player is a downloadable piece of Windows software that comes pre-loaded with several apps (including Bloomberg News, Words With Friends and Drag Racing).[2] More apps can be downloaded using the "Featured Apps" channel provided with the software. Cloud Connect[3] is an Android App downloadable from the Android Market that allows additional apps to be pushed into BlueStacks App Player from any Android device. The products are now listed as beta software available for free download.
On October 13, 2011, BlueStacks was the subject of a CNET TV video review by Senior Editor Seth Rosenblatt.[4]
On March 27, 2012, the company released the beta-1 version of its App Player software. The program was downloaded over a million times in the first 10 days. This was followed by an undisclosed investment from Qualcomm.[5]
On June 27, 2012, the company released an alpha-1 version of its App Player software for Mac OS.[6] A launch party including a mock wedding between Mac and Android was held at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco.
On Dec 27, 2012, the company released a beta version of its App Player software for Mac OS.The company says It can run over 750,000 Android apps on Mac[7]
Funding
The company raised $7.6 million in Series A funding in May, 2011 from Andreessen Horowitz, Radar Partners, Helion Ventures, Ignition Partners and RedPoint Ventures.[8] On Oct. 20, 2011 it was announced that the company had raised another $6.4 million in Series B financing[9] from the same group of investors, as well as the chip-maker AMD.
Reception
This software received mostly negative to mixed reviews. Its latest version (0.7.4.793 beta 1) received less than 2 out of 5 stars on CNET Download.com.[10] The top user complaints are the lag issue, especially when running graphic intensive apps and the fact that it doesn't provide a mechanism to uninstall cleanly.[11]
On the other hand, some reviewers praised the concept and hinted that it has a lot of potential.[12][13]
See also
References
- ^ Empson, Rip. "BlueStacks Releases App Player And Cloud Connect Service To Let You Run Android Apps On Your PC". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10/11/2011.
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(help) - ^ Whitney, Lance. "Android apps can now run on your PC via BlueStacks". CNET. Retrieved 10/11/2011.
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(help) - ^ "BlueStacks Cloud Connect in Android Market". Retrieved December 4, 2011.
- ^ Rosenblatt, Seth. "BlueStacks Presides Over the First Windows-Android Wedding". CNET TV. Retrieved 10/13/2011.
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(help) - ^ Empson, Rip. "Android On Your PC: Qualcomm Invests In BlueStacks After Beta Sees 1M Downloads In 10 Days". TechCrunch. Retrieved 04/10/2012.
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(help) - ^ Rosenblatt, Seth. "BlueStacks ports Android apps to Mac". CNET. Retrieved 07/28/2012.
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(help) - ^ Perez, Sarah. "BlueStacks' App Player For Mac Launches Beta: Now You Can Run Over 750,000 Android Apps On Mac". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27/12/2012.
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(help) - ^ Fried, Ina. "Start-Up BlueStacks Raises Cash to Bring Android Apps to Windows PCs". All Things D/Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 05/24/2011.
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(help) - ^ Kim, Ryan. "BlueStacks raises $6.4M to bring Android apps to PCs". GigaOM. Retrieved 10/20/2011.
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(help) - ^ "BlueStacks App Player". CNET Download.com. Retrieved 01/24/2013.
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(help) - ^ Lesmana, Reza. "BlueStacks Review". Retrieved 01/24/2013.
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(help) - ^ Zax, David. "Bringing Android Apps to PCs". Retrieved 01/24/2013.
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(help) - ^ Munoz, Joshua. "BlueStacks beta-1 - Android App Review". Retrieved 01/24/2013.
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External links