Google: 3 billion Android apps now installed

Google: 3 billion Android apps now installed

Google used its quarterly earnings call to announce that over three billion apps have now been installed on Android devices.

The achievement comes just a couple of months after the company boasted of hitting two billion mark, while it took 20 months to reach one billion and five months to go from one-to-two.

Android app downloads are also up 50 percent from Q4 last year according to today's report.

Apple reigns for now

Apple remains well ahead after recently passing 10 billion app downloads, but signs are that Android, now boasting a bigger market share than Apple in many markets, is catching and catching fast.

With the Amazon Android Appstore now open to rival the Android Market and the operating system's presence growing worldwide every day, these numbers could easily snowball further.

Google Senior VP of Commerce and Local also took the opportunity to re-iterate that over 350,000 Android devices are being activated every day.

Today's impressive figures were announced alongside an otherwise sobering Q1 report for Google in which earnings, for once, failed to meetWall Street expectations.

Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/google-3-billion-android-apps-now-installed-943351#ixzz1JZur5mfE

Android Development Guidense

Android Development Guidens

Ok, so you’ve read the Android FAQ, successfully managed to install the Android SDK and get it up and running, so now you’re finally ready to get building some Android applications.

Below you’ll find anumber of links to sites that will be of great use to you as you get to grips with the Android SDK and begin to work on creating your own applications for the platform.

Android applications are written using the Java programming language, you’ll also use a custom virtual machine (Dalvik) to run and tst your creations. Dalvik is designed for embedded use which runs on top of the Linux kernal.

Below you’ll find a number of links to sites that will be of great use to you as you get to grips with the Android SDK and begin to work on creating your own applications for the platform. Information on how to develop applications, references,in-depth documentation and code snippets can all be found as you work your way through the various guides and tutorials.

An early look at the the Android SDK is also included showing you sample projects , source code, development tools, an emulator and all the libraries you’ll need to build your Android app.
Getting Started With Android

http://code.google.com/android/intro/index.html

This starter module will guide you through everything you need to know about making your first steps into developing for the platform. Talking you through the anatomy of the applications, development tools and getting you started on your first ‘Hello World’ project.
Developing Android Applications

http://code.google.com/android/devel/index.html

Android applications can be developed using the same tools used to develop Java applications. Android’s core libraries will provide you with the functions needed to build high quality rich mobile apps whilst providing you with development tools to make debugging, running and testing your applications much easier.

This module will guide you though the development proces, outlining the core philosphy behind the Android system and going over the key sections in good detail.
Developer Toolbox

http://code.google.com/android/toolbox/index.html

The developer toolbox module will walk you through how to write code that makes the most of the android systems features, allowing you to create custom components and really get to grips with the many API’s at your disposal.
Reference Information

http://code.google.com/android/reference/index.html

As you would imagine this module is made up of a good collection of reference material specificaly related to developing android applications. Details of the application framework and documentationfor the android core libraries are covered in full.
Sample Code

http://code.google.com/android/samples/index.html

A selection of sample code projects for Android Applications, API demos, Lunar Lander and Notepad.

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Android Gaming: Xoom performance, Unity 3D game list

I'm not much of a gamer, but I did spend some long afternoons on Angry Birds when it came out and tried out quite a few of the Flash games that Adobe posted on their mobile showcase. This week Android showed it's gaming teeth with the Xoom blazing through some HD games and Unity 3D releasing the list of all games made its game engine, some of which were ported from iOS. For more info, a video of the Xoom and the game list read past the break.

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Google Launches In-App Billing For Android Market

Google revealed last week that the launch of in-app billing was about one week away from launch, and at the time, they opened the service to developers to being testing in order to make sure that their apps were correctly interfacing with Google's system. Late yesterday, Google finally launched the service for consumers.


Developers will be able to use in-app billing to charge for some aspects of their app which could be, for example, a new weapon, level, song, vehicle, or some special ability.

Some of the apps which are already implementing this feature include:

* Tap Tap Revenge
* Comics
* Gun Bros.
* Deer Hunter Challenge HD
* WSOP3
* Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe

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Android Now Has a Third of US Smartphone Market, Soaring Far, Far Ahead of iPhone

Wow. According to comScore, Android now captures 33% of the smartphone market, up from 21.4% in the end of September.

The figures come from a survey of 30,000 American mobile phone operators. The second biggest smartphone platform was rim with 29% and then Apple with 25%. Microsoft came in at a paltry 7.7%, down 1.3% since the launch of the Windows Phone 7 in November of last year.

The results of the poll matter because technology trends tend to center around dominant players (think Google, Facebook, Twitter), and when there are huge gains in one platform over another, developers begin focusing most of their energy on developing for that platform, which further increases the dominance and ubiquity of that platform. It's a snowball effect.

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Me And Android: The First Day

"What, um, is Android?" my friend Masha asked me when I told her about my new job at AndroidPIT. I tried to explain, and ended up sounding like a douschy salesman: "It's this platform for phones, developed by Google, that's rapidly growing in users and already the number one cell phone operating system," I hyperventilated. Masha's eyes glazed over: she owns an iPod. She will likely never switch to another phone. I showed her my phone. "Ohhhhh! This is like the phones that try to pretend they're made by Apple." Uh, yeah.

This was my first day with the Android. I'm a newbie, or NOOB in internet parlance. At times, I felt like a grandpa, clumsily fiddling with the keypad on my Samsung Galaxy while attempting to add people to my phonebook. "I just want to make a call with this damn thing!" I wanted to say in an asthmatic voice while cursing the heavens with my cane. Then I synced the phone to my Facebook app and "shazam": suddenly it looked like I could even call that boring kid who sat behind me in math class.

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Android Chief Andy Rubin to Developers: We Love You, You're Perfect (Now Change)

Android is the math geek you elected president: he's happy you voted for him, but now he's motherfucking president and will do as he pleases.

For over a week now, stories have been running about how Android is trying to throw it's weight around a bit more, given its surging popularity. Today Andy Rubin, VP of engineering, assured developers that just because they're super popular right now and can basically choose to collaborate with whichever cell phone company they wants, doesn't mean that they have forgotten their original mission: to be open.

"We don't believe in a one size fits all" solution, Rubin wrote in a post on the Android development website. "But", he continued, "we do require the device to conform with some basic compatibility requirements." The post then goes on to detail Android's commitment against fragmentation while assuring developers that Google has no desire to standardize the platform on any single chipset architecture.

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Will Android-Based Tablets Ever Be Able to Seriously Compete with the iPad?

The pioneers get both the flowers and the arrows.

According to estimates by Deutsche Bank, sales for Motorola's Xoom, one of the first tablets to compete with the iPad, are bleak. The company has only managed to sell 100,000 of their tablet PCs thus far. That's probably the same number of people who bought iPads in the first few days after it was released.

So far, Android phones have been able to compete with the iPhone partially because of their low prices. But when an Android tablet costs a whopping $799, like the Xoom, it means the product has to compete both with both other small laptops and the iPad. That's just too much competition for an unproven piece of hardware.

When the Xoom was first released, reviewers were impressed by its technical prowess. To some reviewers it felt like someone had taken a powerful notebook computer, sheared off the keyboard and replaced it with a touch interface. But the Zoom didn't have the ability to use its own SD card slot, and only a few applications took advantage of its larger display.

There is certainly a product to be made to compete with Apple's iPad. I've always thought the iPad felt like an overgrown iPod, not a computer with the kind of capabilities that could ever replace my laptop.

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AT&T brings Android to the prepaid masses with the Froyo based LG Thrive

Prepaid phones used to be clunky, mostly unattractive and feature-less clunkers, but boy were they cheap. Plus, knowing you're not signing your soul away for a year or two offers much relief to the lesser quality of what you can get as a prepaid option. AT&T is now changing much of that by introducing the LG Thrive, a Froyo based Android phone that bring plenty of punch for the $179 contract-free asking price. Read past the break for more info.


The Thrive brings a 600MHz processor, 3.2-inch (480 x 320) screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera and unlimited WiFi usage on the entire national AT&T WiFi Hot Spot network. Its decededly plasticky body isn't the hottest thing around, but for an entry-level phone, there's worse. The blue version above is the Phoenix, identical in specs, but it'll run you $50 and it's available only on a two-year contract with mandatory data. AT&T is also serving up a mildly attractive 500 MB for $25 a month for the prepaid version, if you're so interested. Plus, this thing runs Froyo from the get-go, something some of its higher-end brethren launched within the last year can't say for themselves.

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Android Concept Cars

Android is a great time waster in the car (when you're not the driver) and many people also use their Android as a navigational system. So why not embed the Android directly into your car? Hyundai has done just that at the Seoul Motor Show with their Blue 2 concept car. Now the kids can play angry birds in the back while you curse at traffic.

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What Does Unlimited Data on T-Mobile Really Mean?

This morning, T-Mobile announced a new 79.99 all-inclusive plan with unlimited calling, texting and data. However, there's a big asterisk over that word 'data": once users reach 2GB, they can expect their data rates to be slowed. How slowed? We don't know yet.

T-Mobile maintains that the majority of their customers only use around 1 GB of data a month, but when a company uses the word "unlimited" they should mean it.

Still, the new plan looks pretty great. Full press release below:

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Sony Ericsson Sets up Its Own Page on Android Market, Demotes My Apps to a Menu Button

Try opening up Android Market on your Sony Ericsson device and instead of finding "My Apps" on the menu, you'll be transferred to a Sony Ericsson channel filled with junk apps the manufacturer wants you to download.

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Google Maps First Android App to Reach 50 Million Downloads

Congratulations are in order for Google, whose Maps app recently passed the 50 million download mark.

Google Maps is the Swiss Army knife of apps. You can do so much with it, from checking traffic conditions to seeing where your friends are to getting detailed directions. And Google keeps on rolling out innovative updates like 3D maps, compass mode, and the ability to navigate maps without an internet connection.

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In-App Billing on Android Market:

In-App Billing on Android Market: Ready for Testing

we announced our plan to introduce Android Market In-app Billing this
quarter. We're pleased to let you know that we will be launching In-app
Billing next week.

In preparation for the launch, we are opening
up Android Market for upload and end-to-end testing of your apps that
use In-app Billing. You can now upload your apps to the Developer
Console, create a catalog of in-app products, and set prices for them.
You can then set up accounts to test in-app purchases. During these test
transactions, the In-app Billing service interacts with your app
exactly as it will for actual users and live transactions.

Note that although you can upload apps during this test development phase, you won’t be able to actually publish the apps to users until the full launch of the service next week.

To get you started, we’ve updated the developer documentation with information about how to set up product lists and test your in-app products. Also, it is absolutely essential that you review the security guidelines to make sure your billing implementation is secure.

We encourage you start uploading and testing your apps right away.

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