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Jobsian remote access app comes to Android

LogMeIn without an iPhone

LogMeIn has released an Android version of its popular remote PC-access tool, LogMeIn Ignition.

Ignition was originally built for the iPhone, providing remote access to your PC or Mac from the holy Jobsian handset. And naturally, it's now available for the iPad as well. Like the iPhone/iPad incarnation, the Android version carries a $29.99 price tag.

The app has been wildly successful for the Massachusetts-based LogMeIn, raking in more dough during its first week in the Apple Store than the company expected to make in the first year. According to Apple, it ranks as the store's seventh-highest grossing application.

In the spring of 2008, before the opening of the App Store, LogMeIn hoped to provide an iPhone incarnation of its LogMeIn Rescue tool, which would allow IT outfits to provide technical support for Jobsian handhelds. Whereas LogMeIn Ignition provides remote PC access from a phone, Rescue provides remote iPhone control from a PC. But since Apple didn't allow third-party background apps on the original iPhone, this was a nonstarter. You can't start a remote control connection unless there's a background app waiting for your call.

So, the company developed LogMeIn Ignition instead. No word yet on whether it will build an Jobsian version of Rescue now that the iPhone allows multitasking.

The new Android app — now available from Google's Android Market — runs on version 1.5 of the OS and later. As on the iPhone, it lets you navigate remote desktops using typical touch gestures, including pan and zoom. And it provides full remote keyboard access, including PC and Mac key combinations and shortcuts.

You can see it in action here:

The app is now available in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA. And it speaks Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. ®

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