G1 News

“We inadvertently unpublished your application for all mobile providers; if you like, we can restore your app so that all Android Market users outside the T-Mobile US network will have access to your application.”

The response received by the blokey whose app was unceremoniously removed from the Android Market, after it allowed users to tether their T-Mobile G1 to a lappy for internet downloading and the like (provided they had root access to their G1).

You’d think it was quite a niche app, but the functionality was enough that T-Mobile US turned the screws and got it pulled. Network specific and-yet-somehow open app garden? Hmm, interesting…

It all sounds like an honest accident following that apology, but do you believe Google’s intentions are pure, or is the Android Market just as closed off to developer innovation when it apps have the potential to jeopardise the carriers’ food/money supply?

Gotta keep it on topic…you may have noticed I wasn’t posting yesterday. This was as I was too busy ‘laughing’ at all the ‘hilarous’ April Fool’s gags, and using quote marks in the ‘wrong’ places.

Here’s my favourites, but be warned…it was a lean April Fool’s this year.

5. The DS Phone

‘F’ for effort, ‘F’ for execution. Terrible in it’s simplicity. Witness the true horror here.

4. Wii Height

Dread to think if this wasn’t an April Fool’s joke. Nintendo would make it, we would buy it in our millions. Sad but true.

3. Google Mobile Brain Search

Now we’re cooking. Brilliantly realistic in it’s Googleness and privacy invasiveness. See how it works here, and download the insanely infectious ditty here! Now my ringtone for anyone I hate…hold on, I think you’re calling me!

2. Guardian newspaper killed, switches to Twitter

All you Tweetaholics wished this one were true! Yeah! The web taking down the system, disassembling the man’s construct, fighting the power! Then April 2nd came, and you tweeted about you sock choices again. And nobody cared.

1. Alpine Legend for XBox 360

Brilliant in execution, perfectly believable, and most importantly funny! Remember that? Being funny?

To think at least one videogame marketing executive watched this video and thought: “****, the boss is gonna be mad we didn’t come up with this one in last week’s ThoughtShower,” without a hint of sarcasm or irony makes it all worthwhile.

Anyone who says that the G1 was anything less than a success for  T-Mobile is flat-out wrong! These stats go to show that people aren’t only flocking to it, but they’re making the most of the Android handset’s functionality:

• Approximately 80% of T-Mobile G1 users browse the web on a daily basis
• The majority of T-Mobile G1 owners use Facebook and Youtube at least once a day and access Wi-Fi on a daily basis
• On average, T-Mobile G1 customers have downloaded more than 40 applications from Android Market
• Four out of five G1 customers download applications at least once a week

Big usage statistics, and one in the eye for those who see it as just another handset. A huge indicator of smartphone success is online usage, and the G1 has people racking up those data charges, which the networks love to see. Expect a final software-based hurrah from the G1 before the avalanche of new Android machines due for release. T-Mobile have a history of doing right by the most loyal of hansdset users.

Source: Android Central