Android Development Talk

Blackberry Playbook OS 2.0 support Android Applications, developers to submit apps before Feb 6th

Neeha — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:49:47 +0000

The Blackberry Playbook OS 2.0 software which was introduced at the CES 2012, defiantly was one of the anticipated devices as it was designed to have the blackberry runtime for Android applications. Now, there is more to look forward to. The Blackberry developers, on the official RIM developer blog, have announced today that developers would have to submit applications before February 6th, 2012 to ensure the app is available during the launch of the Blackberry Playbook OS 2.0.

The development team has provided helpful tips and tools for developers for easy porting of their Android apps to blackberry. To ensure that your application is approved by the blackberry development team, a few steps have been offered.

Before submitting your Android application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to remove all mention of the word “Android” from your application. Both in the application description and the application itself.
Please remove all links to Android Market from within your application.
When submitting your Android application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to select a minimum BlackBerry PlayBook OS of 2.0.
Please make sure your application is signed. For more information on code signing, please view the code signing documentation on the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps webpage (linked here).

For a broader reach to consumers, RIM developers strongly suggest submitting apps before the 6th of February. For more details, you can check out the original blog post here.

Official Android Development team now on Google+

Neeha — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:15:42 +0000

The Official Android developers team is now on Google+. The Android development team started being social by creating their official Twitter handle late last year. Now they have taken their plans of interacting with developers from round the world a step further. With their own dedicated social space, they can now share tips and connect with millions of app developers.

By adding them to your circles on Google+, you can hangout with Android team and get updates on releases of Android developers’ tools, SDKs, training material and more. You can also connect with the Android developer relations, product, engineering and design team to ask development related questions as well as get inside scoop on the latest APIs and platform features.

With just a few hours of their presence in Google+, more than 14,000 members have added them to their circles. For details on Android Developers Google+, you can add them to your circles and start connecting with the development team.

Developer proposes development of Android App Store for Restricted Applications

Neeha — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:35:05 +0000

There are quite a few alternative App Stores for Android Applications other than Google’s official Android Market. However, there have been many Android applications which have been banned from the Android Market. For applications such as these, Android developer Koushik Dutta, member of the development team of CyanogenMod, has launched an alternative App Store for Android apps which have been banned from the Android Market.

After positive feedback from a discussion held by regarding a marketplace for banned apps, Koushik Dutta, decided to create the alternate app store. The store would include apps offering emulators, visual voicemail, and tethering, along with other software which have been restricted by Google. The idea was first proposed by Dutta when after his own app, ClockworkMod , was restricted from the Android Market.

And the good news for developers is that Dutta, is already on the works on this app store as he has posted a early screenshot of the App store submission page. Far from the finished product but this project certainly looks interesting.

Amazon Mobile Android App compatible with Android 4.0 ICS

Neeha — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:25:41 +0000

With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available for Android devices, developers have been updated their application to be compatible with the latest version of Android OS as well.

One among them is the Amazon Mobile Android App which has got a version update and now is compatible with Android OS 4.0 ICS. The update also has many bug fixes including the issues on Galaxy Nexus.
With the Amazon Mobile Android app, you can now shop for millions of products on Amazon. Download the Android app from here

Enterprise Mobility- Apps, Platforms and Devices- [Infographic]

Neeha — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:37:09 +0000

An extensive infographic on Enterprise Apps Usage, Platforms and Devices:

This infographic is a work of [x]cube LABS and can be found here: Enterprise Mobility Apps, Platforms & Devices – Enterprise Mobile Applications

CES 2012: Lenovo announces Smart TV sporting Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Neeha — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:01:44 +0000

The CES 2012 has introduced quite a few interesting devices. Lenovo, the world’s number two PC manufacturer, has started the Consumer Electronic Show to introduce seamless digital experience with numerous devices such as PC’s, Android powered smartphones, tablets and TV’s

Lenovo has announced along with the release of new Android smartphones and Tablets, they plan to release an Android powered Smart TV – K91. The smart TV would be running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It sports a dual-core Snapdragon 8060 processor and a 5-megapixel camera in the bezel, above a 55-inch 3D-capable 240Hz HD IPS LCD display.

Lenovo has modified Ice Cream Sandwich Interface which they refer to as “Sandwich”. The reworked version of the OS would feature three major smart TV functions, Video On Demand (VOD), Internet applications and traditional TV programs.

Some of the other notable features which Lenovo k91 would feature would be access to the Android Market and the Lenovo Store, Voice Control and Cloud support.

The k91 would be available in the Chinese Market right away but international users would have to wait as Lenovo team haven’t yet revealed an international release date.

[Source : Geeky Gadgets]

Android OS Distribution released, Gingerbread leads at 55%, ICS makes entry

Neeha — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:12:32 +0000

The Android development team at Google has released the Android OS distribution. The previous report released showed the increasing number of Android devices sporting the Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Though Android 2.2 Froyo has been dominating the Android marketplace but the latest report has a new leading OS as well as a new entry.

Gingerbread has gathered 55% of the Android Marketplace which is a 10% increase from October. Froyo follows this with 30% of the marketplace. Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) has made its entry into the chart with 0.6%.

The entry of Android 4.0 in the marketplace at such an early stage is interesting compared to all other Android OS’s gain. This is mainly cause of ICS supports both smartphone and Tablets. And more importantly, the source code of ICS has been released to Android developers, so ICS tablets are already hitting markets.

Distimo Report: Android Market hits 400,000 app milestone, 100k Active publishers

Neeha — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:20:50 +0000

The Android Team have certainly more than new year to celebrate for. Mobile app analytics firm, Distimo released their report which states that there are now 400,000 active Android apps available in the Android Market.

The major contributors to this numbers are free apps which have grown steadily over the months. The report shows that the percentage of free applications has increased from April which was 60% to 68% by the end of 2011.
Its interesting to see that while Google’s Android Market needed 31 months to reach the 200k milestone, Apple needed just 22 months. To hit the next milestone, the Android Market needed just 4 more months while Apple needed 8 months to hit the 300k milestone.

In addition to this news, the Android team is that there are now almost more than 100k publishers in the Android Market. The report states “In the Android Market, each developer publishes 4.1 applications on average, while developers published nearly five apps on average a year ago

Source [Distimo]

Android and iOS App downloads breaks record this Holiday Season

Neeha — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:20:52 +0000

Christmas is a time when smartphone activations increase drastically because many receive Android or iOS devices as gifts. Once the gifts are opened, users first activity on their smartphone would be downloading the apps they have long waited for.

On Christmas 2010, Flurry reported 2.8 million device activations. The first 20 days of December, 2011 saw an average of 1.5 million activations This Christmas Android and iOS device activations shattered records with 6.8 device activations which is a 353% increase over the baseline and 140% increase since 2010 Christmas.

When looking at app downloads, over a quarter of a billion apps were downloaded. The first 20 days of December saw 108 million app downloads. But this increased by 125% to 242 million app downloads across both Android and iOS platforms.

Android Still No.1, Reports comScore

Neeha — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:27:05 +0000

Android still leads the pack of smartphone platforms in terms of US mobile subscribers during the three months ending in November 2011, as reported by Market research firm comScore. Samsung on the other hand is still on top in smartphone manufacturer market share. Apple also saw increasing in growth of 1.4% way behind Android which saw a growth of 3.1% during the same period.

The comScore survey report was based on 30,000 US mobile subscribers and on 3-month average period ending in November. Android leads in the top five smartphone platforms, now at 46.9 percent, a 3.1 point change. Apple’s iOS is now at 28.7 percent showing a 1.4 point change compared to previous report.