Google bars Android app makers from their own apps

Copy protection unprotected

By Cade Metz, 27th February 2009

If you join the Android developer program, Google will sell you an unlocked Android phone that works on any mobile network. But it can't download paid applications from Google's very own app market.

The Android Market began offering price-tagged applications late last week - at least in the US - but developers wielding unlocked Googlephones soon discovered they couldn't download them, IDG News Service reports.

As it turns out, Google has prevented these developer phones from downloading any application that's copy protected, including paid apps.

Anyone who forks over $25 to join the official Android developer program can then purchase an unlocked version of the T-Mobile G1, the inaugural Googlephone. Price: $400. These phones give developers unfettered access to their hardware and software, and judging from a brief statement from Google, they can somehow circumvent the company's copy protection.

"Copy protection is a tool that provides basic protection to application developers and prevents casual user-to-user pirating of applications," reads a canned statement Google tossed our way. "The Developer version of the G1 is designed to give developers complete flexibility. These phones give developers of handset software full permissions to all aspects of the device, including the ability to install a modified version of the Android Open Source Project. We aren't distributing copy protected applications to these phones in order to minimize unauthorized copy of the applications."

According to one blogging Android developer, Google copy protects apps simply by downloading them to a restricted folder. But on unlocked phones, he says, the folder isn't protected. In theory, once a paid app is downloaded, a developer could make a copy and return the original for a refund. The Android Market allows refunds within 24 hours of purchase.

So, Google has banned downloads of copy-protected apps on developer phones. The result: Many developers are prevented from downloading their own applications. ®

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Posted Thursday 5th March 2009 00:33 GMT

Dave Hooper

What has this got to do with GPL?

I'm not sure how the comments of this article seem to have been hijacked by ill-informed 'Google don't adhere to GPL' rants - the Android OS is open-source and freely downloadable/buildable. Just because T-Mobile sold you a phone that has development features disabled doesn't mean the phone isn't running an open-source operating system. The details are no different than for all the other millions of embedded devices that run some variant of Linux. I also can't see any problem either with Google offering for sale development kits that exhibit different behaviour from retail phones.

Posted Tuesday 3rd March 2009 20:06 GMT

Anonymous Coward

If you want to pirate apps...

Just get a normal G1 and unlock it...

Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 11:09 GMT

James Hughes

re: GPL

As I understand GPL and Android, the O/S is based on Linux so is Open Source as it's covered by the GPL. The applications are not, unless they use code which is GPL'd, where copyleft applies.

So the phrase above "The whole purpose of the Android, was destined to be OPEN SOURCE, which is a free distribution of software and applications." is incorrect. Applications are not necessarily OpenSource.

Same as apps running on desktop Linux are not OpenSource, even though the OS is.

There are also some misunderstandings of what you 'get' with open source. You don't for example, necessarily get docs, compilers, coding for debugging etc. You get the source code. Do with it what you will.

I imagine Google do adhere to the GPL rules where they apply. But willing to be corrected in the face of evidence. None of which this article and associated comments supplies.