Here’s some good news if you’re in one of the many European DEAD ZONES where Google has yet to launch official access to the Android Market – Vodafone is launching its own app-selling shop front to sell Android apps to its customers.
The Vodafone “Android App Shop” is slated to arrive in The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK this June, and will be part of Vodafone’s 360 package on some new Android phones.
Here’s a bit more info from a Vodafone presentation:
It’s believed Vodafone and German company Arvato, which will be managing the store, are already tapping up Android Market developers with a view to having them publish their apps on this new and entirely separate way to purchase Android apps.
Link via numerous places – we found the story on MobileEntertainment, followed it to MobileGamesBlog, then nicked the image from AndroidPlanet. Apologies and thanks to everyone involved. We couldn’t do it without you. It’s a team effort, etc etc.
The Panasonic Eluga marks the company’s return to the European mobile phone scene years after several years of absence, and it’s come back to us with a moderately high-spec Android model that features a rather stylish, slim case.
The HTC One V is HTC’s third entry in its high-profile new HTC One range, offering a smaller 3.7″ display running on a single-core 1GHz processor. It is is very much the “affordable” option in HTC’s newest Android series, but…
The HTC One S is the piggy in the middle of HTC’s 2012 line-up, offering a 4.3″ AMOLED display inside a very slim and stylish aluminium chassis. The end result is a phone that’s very, very slim and stylish.
HTC’s new quad-core monster, the 4.7″ flagship for 2012 that introduces the Tegra 3 processor to mobile phones, updates HTC’s range to Android 4.0 and brings us the supposedly streamlined version 4.0 of HTC’s Sense user interface.
Sony returns with an all-new mobile design for 2012, pairing a dual-core processor with a 720p display. It’s a lovely phone, but is it enough to end our Samsung and HTC obsession?
LG’s updated Prada phone comes with an absolutely crazy black & white theme, but is it just for fashionable suit wearers who want to make themselves look a bit more interesting?
MrChaz
/ April 9, 2010Oh good!
Another totally separate market for me to deal with. A separate developer account, sperate terms, separate app ratings, separate place to upload upgrades. woo-freaking-hoo.
I’d much rather they’d just fix the proper market.
Gary C
/ April 9, 2010At least it means Google has MORE markets than Apple. That’s a sort of victory, right?
Peterdk
/ April 9, 2010Indeed, this is shit.
Let’s just fragment Android further…
What’s next? Android app store removed from Vodaphone phones?
/me needing to upload my app to T-Mobile Store, Orange-Store, AnotherCarrier(TM) store? This is awfull.
ExtremeT
/ April 9, 2010A large part of this would be solved if Google would actually put a website up with Android market browsing and purchasing which would allow a lot more countries access to paid apps. This would eliminate any desire for carriers to have their own I would think due to everyone being able to access the web interface.
It’s already hard enough keeping track of all the accounts I have at various 3rd party markets.
MrChaz
/ April 9, 2010@PeterDK
Orange already have their own store which professes to support Android apps although I’m not convinced they really do from looking at the information. So we’re getting there.
The official market needs (imo)
1. a web interface.
2. carrier billing or ability to price outside of your account currency.
3. a better phone interface
Anonymous
/ July 20, 2010all apps should be freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee