Archos users celebrate Android app access Users of Android-based tablets from Archos can now get the Google applications the rest of the Android community takes for granted, and seem blissfully unaware of the illegality of doing so. The apps include Gmail and Google Talk, though it‘s YouTube and the Android Marketplace client that most Archos users seem to want. They …
Shipping devices with Android 1.5 with continued failed promises to provide 2.X upgrades is just hopeless.
Unfortunately Archos have a very poor reputation for providing their paying customers with new firmware. Worse still, they make claims about future upgrades that they often renege on. For example, the tech spec page for the Archos 32 is just misleading. It currently ships with 1.5, which they don't mention at all. They list it as a Froyo device and then in the small print talk about October. With their track record don't hold your breath.
"Unfortunately Archos have a very poor reputation for providing their paying customers with new firmware.". Really?
Between Sept 2009 and Sept 2010, Archos issued 23 firmware updates for the A5 Android, including 3 versions which offered a choice of 2D or 3D. How many would they need to issue to get a "good reputation" in your definition?
"...but the search giant charges phone manufacturers for its applications including Google Maps and Gmail."
Or if your phone manufacturer didn't cough up, you can download and install the Google applications for free from, er, Google via m.google.com. They'll even automagically identify what you're running* and give you the right download for your device.
Oddly enough, having had a quick glance at their site, the most notable platforms without a direct download available appear to be iOS (surprise) and, er, Android.
So to get perfectly legitimate free access to all the Googly goodness, don't buy a phone with an OS from Apple or, er, Google. Presumably the left hand of Google has yet to notice what the right hand is up to and reach for the clue stick.
*Unless you access this with Opera, in which case they tell you to f*** off. Something to do with a deeply held conviction that all mobile Opera browsers are actually Opera Mini.
If archos users really are installing a (pirate) package containing android marketplace, and this is their main reason for doing so, I wonder how this can hurt google, as it only really earns them revenue from the apps sold there.
Revenue that they would not have otherwise.
Ok, perhaps Google are griping about missing the licensing fee that these users did not pay up. But how could they? AFAIK there is no option to buy marketplace (correct me if I am wrong).
If google are really upset about this, put up Android marketplace for sale and installation. Otherwise, I reckon, they should just shut up and collect on the revenue from marketplace.
Hey, we need an evil google icon.
Google does not charge for Google Marketplace and the Google Apps for Android. Google just does NOT allow devices that compete directly with the iPod Touch and iPad to have Google Marketplace and Google Apps for Android. Archos is the ONLY COMPANY IN THE WORLD making Android based Tablets and Touch devices competing with iPod Touch. For no apparent reason does Google block manufacturers from making those types of devices. Apple has sold about 50 million iPod Touch and iPad devices thus it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE for Google not to allow Android based devices to compete with those. Possible top-secret Google reasoning could be following:
1. Google has secret partnerships with multi-billion dollar companies HTC, Samsung, Motorola and does not want to allow for Android based disruption to come in from under them and offer $100-200 Android devices that consumers will choose instead of ones from HTC, Samsung and Motorola.
2. Google thinks it absolutely needs all hardware features such as compass, GPS/AGPS, back cameras and 3G for augmented reality and location based advertising. Even though Google has not proven yet that it can monetize location based advertising, they just put Marissa Mayer in charge of that project. I think it makes little sense as Google has proven they can monetize advertisement on the web no matter in which direction people are looking at.
3. Somehow Google argues that they cannot guarantee user experience accross different screen sizes, resolutions and hardware features. For one, they do support wide range of size and resolutions already as official Android 2.2 spec (since Android 1.6 actually), and for second, it's not like it would be really hard for them to filter out (hide) the 1% of apps from Marketplace of certain devices like Archos which may not come with all of the augmented reality hardware.
4. Fact is thus, no company in the world making less than 5 billion dollars in yearly revenues is allowed to licence access to Google Marketplace and the Google Apps.
@Neil Mitchell, you are very badly informed. Archos 5 Internet Tablet released October 2009 has Google Marketplace since November 2009 and updated to Android 1.6 since February 2010 and has had dozens of firmware updates, MANY MORE firmware updates always adding new features than Apple, Motorola, HTC, Samsung and Dell combined.
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