Android is not as free as we need it to be

[Randell]

Danny Ching posted this from the PLUG mailing-list and I thought that someone from this group might be able to answer it

If Android (which is based on Linux) is supposed to be more open and free, why is it that Filipinos are not allowed to buy stuff on the marketplace on Android? Apple App Store actually allows me to purchase solutions. I thought open source was about freedom? 

--

Randell

http://nullpointer.ph/

[Aileen Apolo-De Jesus]

Hi Randell,

Unfortunately, Android has been launched only in select countries, that's why we don't have access yet to the paid marketplace. 

Cheers,

Aileen 

Aileen Apolo - de Jesus
Working in behalf of Google, Inc.. in Manila, Philippines
http://sites.google.com/a/aileenapolo.com/about-me/
http://www.twitter.com/aileenapolo

'Do not take life seriously. After all, no one has ever come out of it alive.' --- Bugs Bunny

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[Marc Lester Tan]

My take on this is that Android OS itself is open source and free and you can modify it at your own will but buying apps and the market place has nothing to do with Android being "open" imho. 

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Cheers,

Marc Lester Tan 

Singapore #: +6597896575

Philippine #: +639167125816

http://www.appalert.co

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[Nikki Erwin C. Ramirez]

On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 10:33 AM, Marc Lester Tan <mai...@gmail.com> wrote:

My take on this is that Android OS itself is open source and free and you can modify it at your own will but buying apps and the market place has nothing to do with Android being "open" imho.

I agree with this.

If he's complaining about not having access to _an_ app store, he can always turn to a lot of alternative app stores out there.

[arbie samong]

It's one of the perks of being in a third world country.

Or we can make our own 'mini' app store while waiting ;-). Though I think the wait won't be that long.

Regards,
Arbie

'Do what thou wilt'
http://cvstash.com

On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Samuel Lawson <samuel...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi

Google is working on adding more countries, but yes it's been slow and
unfortunately the Philippines is still unsupported.

Here is the current list of supported countries:

https://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138294

One tip to allow you to buy paid apps:

1) Obtain a sim from a country where paid apps are supported (the sim
need not be active or have any load etc..),
2) Insert the sim and buy the apps you want, then re-insert your local sim..

The phone just takes your country code from the sim and so this fools
the market app into showing paid apps.

regards

Sam

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Arbie Samong

[JP Loh]

How about Slide?

[Richard B. Locsin]

Android is free in that sense that it allows other marketplaces, aside from its own. Slide, as JP mentioned, is one of them [ http://slideme.org/ ]. 

Android also allows developers to bypass any form of marketplace and distribute their own apps themselves. Users simply have to change the setting to allow apps from other sources.

How about Slide?

> Arbie Samong
>

[Marc Lester Tan]

True, and there are lots of alternative market that users can choose to go to (andappstore.com and yaam.mobi) and purchase apps although I admit that as an android app developer, It seems like submitting my apps to these alternative market will cost you more time and effort in terms of support because of the different devices (including non-google phones) accessing their store. 

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[Andy Refuerzo]

That may be the price one has to "pay" for having his/her app accessible to many devices and users. :)

[Mike Rubio]

I like this idea!

[JP Loh]

On a semi-related note for developers, I saw appsplit yesterday:

http://www.appsplit.com/

Profit sharing model from 6 months, 70/30, to 5 years, 40/60. They'll handle the marketing, sales, PR and customer support.

Interesting to watch it take off (or crash).