The Android Market as seen from an Android phone |
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| Developer(s) | |
| Initial release | 22 October 2008 |
| Stable release | 3.4.4[1] |
| Development status | Current / Online / 400,000+ app avaialbe[2], 10,000,000,000+ apps downloaded[3] |
| Operating system | Android |
| Type | Software store |
| Website | market.android.com |
Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android OS devices. Its gateway is an application program ("app") called "Market", preinstalled on most Android devices, which allows users to browse and download mobile apps published by third-party developers. Users can also search for and read detailed information about apps on the Android Market website.
Contents |
Google announced the Android Market on August 28, 2008, and made it available to users on 22 October 2008. They introduced support for paid applications on 13 February 2009 for US and UK developers,[4] with additional support for 29 countries on 30 September 2010.[5]
In December 2010 Google added content filtering to Android Market and reduced the purchase refund window from 24–48 hours to 15 minutes.[6]
In February 2011 Google introduced a web client that provides access to Android Market via PC. Apps requested through the Android Market web page are downloaded and installed on a registered Android device.[7]
In May 2011 Google added new app lists to Android Market, including "Top Grossing" apps, "Top Developers", "Trending" apps, and "Editors Recommendations". Google's Eric Chu said the goal of this change was to expose users to as many apps as possible.[8]
In July 2011 Google introduced a redesigned interface with a focus on featured content, more search filters, and (in the US) book sales and movie rentals.
[9] In September 2011 the Motorola XOOM tablet received an update that brought the redesigned Android Market to a Honeycomb-powered device.[10]
In November 2011 Google added a music store to the Android Market.
On 17 March 2009, about 2,300 applications were available in the Android Market, according to T-Mobile chief technical officer Cole Brodman.[11] On 10 May 2011, during the Google I/O, Google announced that Android Market listed 200,000 apps, and had clocked 4.5 billion apps installed.[12]
| Date | Applications available | Downloads to date |
|---|---|---|
| March 2009 | 2,300[11] | |
| December 2009 | 16,000[13] | |
| March 2010 | 30,000[14] | |
| April 2010 | 38,000[15] | |
| August 2010 | 80,000[16][17] | 1 billion |
| October 2010 | 38,000[18] | |
| May 2011 | 200,000[12] | 3 billion[19] |
| July 2011 | 250,000[20] | 6 billion |
| October 2011 | 319,000[21] | |
| December 2011 | 380,297[22] | 10 billion[3] |
| January 2012 | 400,000[23] |
Android Market features 67% of free apps – the highest percentage of any major app store – compared to 37% for Apple App Store.[24]
| App Store | Percent Free Applications |
|---|---|
| Android Market | 67% |
| Windows Phone Marketplace | 52%[25] |
| Samsung Apps | 39%[26] |
| Apple App Store | 37% |
| BlackBerry App World | 26% |
| Nokia Ovi Store | 26% |
Android Market filters the list of applications to those compatible with the user's device. In addition, users may face further restrictions to choice of apps where developers have tied-in their applications to particular carriers or countries for business reasons. [27] Carriers can also ban certain applications, for example tethering apps.[28]
As of May 2011, users in 131 countries can purchase paid applications from Android Market.[29] Some carriers offer direct carrier billing for Android Market app purchases.[30] There is no requirement that Android applications be acquired from Android Market. Users may download Android applications from a developer's website or through a third party alternative to Android Market.
The Android Market application is not open source. Only Android devices that comply with Google's compatibility requirements may install and access Google's closed-source Android Market app, subject to entering into a free-of-charge licensing agreement with Google.[31]
Developers in 29 countries may sell applications on the Android Market.[32] Application developers receive 70% of the application price, with the remaining 30% distributed among carriers and payment processors. Google itself does not take a percentage.[33] Revenue earned from the Android Market is paid to developers via Google Checkout merchant accounts, or via Google AdSense accounts in some countries.[34]
Google places some restrictions on the types of apps that can be published, in particular not allowing "sexually explicit material", "Violence and Bullying", "Hate Speech", "Impersonation or Deceptive Behavior", copyrighted material (without permission), and a few other activities.[35] Nevertheless, developers can still distribute the apps in .apk format and they can then be installed by users on their Android devices.[36]
On 31 March 2009, Google removed all tethering applications from Android Market because they supposedly violated terms of service of certain carriers.[37] Google later restored tethering applications to Android Market, except those for the T-Mobile USA network, which was specifically the subject of the violation:[38]
| “ | On Monday, several applications that enable tethering were removed from 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 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. |
” |
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—Google, April 2009[38] |
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As of 20 May 2010, PDAnet, Easy Tether and Proxoid were all available in the U.S. market for T-mobile users. On 5 April 2011, Google withdrew the Grooveshark app from Android Market due to unspecified policy violations.[39] However, the app is still available for direct download via Grooveshark's website for those users who have enabled non-market application downloads.[40]
In the first quarter of 2011, at the request of the carrier, Android Market began blocking Easy Tether, and other tethering applications that do not require root access, from download to Verizon Wireless Android phones.
On 27 May 2011, Google banned SpoofApp, a Caller ID spoofing application typically used for prank calling which had been available in Android Market since 18 December 2008.[41] On 29 May 2011, Google banned the account of the developer of several video game emulators, including Nesoid, Snesoid, and N64oid and either Google nor the developer publicly revealed the reason for the ban.[42]
Android Market applications are self-contained Android Package files. The Android Market does not install applications; it asks the devices's PackageManagerService to install them. The package manager is visible if the user downloads an APK file direct to their device. Applications are installed to the phone's internal storage, and under certain conditions may be installed to the devices's external storage card.[43]
Android devices can run applications written by third-party developers and distributed through Android Market and third-party application stores. Once enrolled, developers may publish their applications immediately.
Before installing an application, Android Market displays all required permissions. A game may need to enable vibration, for example, but should not need to read messages or access the phonebook. After reviewing these permissions, the user can decide whether to install the application.
Possible app permissions include functionality like:
Security software companies have been developing applications to ensure the security of Android devices. SMobile Systems, one such manufacturer, claims that 20% of apps in Android Market request permissions that could be used for malicious purposes, and 5% of apps can make phone calls without the user's intervention.[44][45][46] This is not a claim that the apps are actually malicious, but rather highlight the potential for malicious activity.
In early March 2011, DroidDream, a trojan rootkit exploit, was released to the Android Market in the form of several free applications that were, in many cases, pirated versions of existing priced apps. This exploit allowed hackers to steal information such as IMEI and IMSI numbers, phone model, user ID, and service provider. The exploit also installed a backdoor that allowed the hackers to download more code to the infected device.[47] These apps were downloaded more than 50,000 times before Google took action and removed them from the Market. The exploit only affected devices running Android versions earlier than 2.3 "Gingerbread". In many cases, the only guaranteed method of removing the exploit from an infected device was to reset it to factory state, although community-developed solutions for blocking some aspects of the exploit were created.[48] Google started remotely removing the malicious apps from infected devices on March 5th, and also released its own app, the "Android Market Security Tool March 2011", which automatically removed the exploit. This app was automatically installed to all infected devices, and users with infected devices were notified via e-mail.[49]
<ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Distimo; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
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