Hasta La Gadget!

The iOS platform isn’t the only way to make money on the mobile apps scene.

Tech news site Electricpig took a look at eight groups that have made it big — more than six-digits big — with hit Android apps.

Better Android Apps, for example, has made approximately $1.34 million from purchases of its hits Better Keyboard and Open Home. Yongzh created emulators for the PlayStation, Sega, Nintendo and Atari systems, and gathered about $1.81 million from sales of these apps.

“Conventional wisdom told us that to be successful, we had to focus on iOS. Conventional wisdom was wrong,” said Gary Gattis, CEO of Spacetime Studios.

That certainly seems to be true with the tower-defense game Robo Defense. It has also been a big winner, netting creator Lupis Labs more than $2.09 million.

An estimated 3.7 billion Android apps have been downloaded to date, according to AndroLib. Many developers wish that number would rise at a faster rate and are counting on tools like in-app payments to spur app purchases and developer earnings. However, that hasn’t stopped developers such as Eddie Kim, creator of Car Locator, or almost anyone else on this list, from netting big profits.

These high sales figures illustrate that Android’s app market is finally coming to fruition as a solid distribution platform, where software programmers can make good money. Within months of the opening of Apple’s App Store in the summer of 2008, a few lucky programmers quickly struck gold with hot sales of their apps.

Android has been around for about the same time, and only now are we beginning to see comparably high sales figures for Android app makers. Though Google’s app market has been slower to mature, these success stories should give programmers more incentive to make killer apps for Android-powered tablets and smartphones.

Beautiful Widgets netted its maker, LevelUp Studio, more than $934,000. Halfbrick Studios (maker of Fruit Ninja) has netted more than $242,000 after porting its iOS favorite to Android.

Other big winners, thanks to pop-up advertising, include Rovio, for (what else?) Angry Birds, and Arron La for Advanced Task Manager.

Spacetime Studios‘ Pocket Legends, a 3-D MMO, has managed to garner profits of $8,000 per day from in-app payments, making it a shoo-in for six-figure earnings in the not-too-distant future.

“The Android platform has seen phenomenal growth, and it’s great that new avenues for app distribution are opening up,” Rovio CEO Mikael Hed said in a recent news release.

The addition of new marketplaces like Amazon’s App Store is proof, showing that Google’s OS has the potential to be just as lucrative as Apple’s, and companies want to get in on the action.

Spacetime’s Gattis summed up the Android app scene pretty nicely: “In some ways, it’s kind of like the wild, wild West,” he said, “but that’s where the Gold Rush people made their claim.”

Image: Bad Piggy Bank (Rovio)

Meet The Android App Millionaires [Electricpig via Android Guys]

The Amazon Appstore is the exclusive source (for now) for Angry Birds Rio, which is a free download on Tuesday only.

Amazon opened the doors Tuesday on its own marketplace for Android apps.

As reported by Wired.com last week, Amazon’s new store, the Amazon Appstore for Android, appears to be a more-carefully curated, selective virtual storefront than the Google’s default Android Market. It features the new Angry Birds Rio game, as well as many other popular Android apps, including Twitter, Fruit Ninja, Shazam, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and others. The Amazon Appstore has 3,800 apps, according to reports.

While most of these apps (with the exception of Angry Birds Rio, which is an Amazon exclusive for now) are also available through Google’s Android Market, Amazon’s sales pitch to customers appears to be trust and ease of use. For developers, it’s access to Amazon’s vast customer base.

“The Android platform’s openness provides a great opportunity to reach new customers,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, in a statement provided by Amazon.

The Google Android Market is primarily accessible through Android phones, which makes comparison shopping difficult, hampers the ability to read many reviews and slows down search to the speed at which you can type on your phone’s keyboard. (Google recently added a web version of its store.) In addition, the Android Market has been frequently criticized for the low quality of and even security risks posed by some apps, a probably inevitable side effect of Google’s rather open policies. However, it contains over 200,000 apps, a far wider selection than any mobile app store save Apple’s.

With the Amazon Appstore, by contrast, apps are easier to browse and appear to be more carefully vetted by Amazon. Customers can browse Android apps through Amazon’s familiar web interface, which makes it easy to see customer ratings and reviews, look at screenshots, read details on the app and see related apps.

In addition, Amazon says it will provide the ability to “test-drive” apps in the web browser, through a simulated Android phone. We were not able to find this feature on any apps in the store, however.

To purchase apps, customers must install an Amazon Appstore app on their Android phones, which requires Android 1.6 or higher.

One problem for Amazon is that its store does not work with AT&T phones, although Amazon says AT&T is working on a solution. AT&T Android devices are currently configured to install apps from the Android Market only. There are workarounds, but they require a bit of comfort with using the command line.

AT&T told Wired.com that it plans to support third-party app stores, including the Amazon Appstore, on Android phones soon.

“We’re working to give our Android customers access to third party application stores,” an AT&T spokesman said. “This requires updates to our systems and finalizing arrangements with Amazon.  We we will share more info with our customers in the near future.”

Apple Sues

Another obstacle Amazon will face is a lawsuit Apple filed March 18, which claims that Amazon is improperly using the term “App Store,” which Apple says it has trademarked.

In addition to its store’s ease of use, Amazon’s biggest advantage may simply be the option to pay for apps through Amazon.com, which is available in more countries than Google Checkout and has been around more than a decade longer than Google’s payment system.

Once installed and connected with your Amazon account, you have the option of shopping through the Appstore app or on the Amazon.com website. However, you need to use Amazon’s app to actually download and install your new apps (they cannot be “pushed” to your device).

In addition, the Amazon website displays information about each app’s compatibility with your phones, since it knows what kind of hardware you have.

The Nexus S 4G will include Google Voice integration

Sprint users have something to be happy about today: A new 4G handset, the Nexus S 4G, and integrated Google Voice for all phone models.

The Nexus S 4G will be the first 4G device to come stocked with Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The 4G model shares most of the same features as the original 3G Nexus S, including a 4-inch Super AMOLED Contour Display, a 5-megapixel back facing camera, forward-facing VGA camera, and 16 GB of onboard storage.

It can act as a 3G or 4G WiFi hotspot for up to six devices.

The Nexus S 4G also incorporates NFC technology and is powered by a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, which is said to provide “3-D-like graphics” and support “HD-like multimedia content.”

Google’s flagship phone, the Nexus S, was first released back in December for T-Mobile. It was the first smartphone to ship with Android 2.3.

Google also announced today that Sprint subscribers now have the option to use their mobile number as their Google Voice number or replace their Sprint number with their Google Voice number. This allows calls to ring on multiple devices — such as your home phone, mobile, or computer (using Gmail) — simultaneously. Very useful if you find yourself flitting between the office, the car, and the house and don’t want to miss an important call.

The integration with Google Voice also means that Google Voice will replace Sprint voicemail, providing users with voicemail message transcriptions that can be emailed, texted, or viewed online. International calls will also follow Google Voice rates rather than Sprint’s.

Google Voice number-porting has been available for a few months, but it looks like the partnership with Sprint will make access to the service and its features much more hassle-free.

The Sprint Nexus S will be available this spring for $200 with a two-year contract, and Google Voice integration will roll out “soon.”

Introducing Nexus S 4G for Sprint and Sprint integrates Google Voice [Google Voice Blog via Android Community]

We’ve had an affinity for INQ’s Cloud Touch since we Poked and prodded the little device back in February, and now thanks to Carphone Warehouse we’ve got the all important pricetag to accompany the specs. Starting April 6, you’ll be able to pick up the Facebook-ified device in the UK completely SIM-free for £300, or about $486. Not a bad deal for a 3.5-inch Android 2.2 handset with a 5-megapixel shooter and a custom Facebook homescreen. Of course, it lacks the Facebook Buttons of HTC’s offerings, but if you simply can’t wait to be the first person on the block with a Facebook phone you should definitely give the Cloud Touch a peek.

INQ Cloud Touch gets priced in the UK, still MIA in the USA originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Sidekick line’s newest installment, the Android-running Sidekick 4G

The T-Mobile Sidekick, which recently got its data services put to rest for good, will be getting a second life as the Android-based Sidekick 4G.

The Sidekick 4G will be the first Sidekick to include a touchscreen, in this case a 3.5-inch display, but other than that, the looks stay true to the brand’s signature stylings: the same overall shape, the same 5-row QWERTY keyboard. The display slides out with a “pop-tilt” hinge (not the swiveling screen of old), and an optical trackball has been put in place of the old physical trackball.

Group Text and Cloud Text apps appear to be key features of the device, letting users send messages in a reply-all fashion while texting groups and friends from multiple devices, such as your laptop or desktop computer, in addition to the Sidekick.

“We’ve reinvented the messaging experience that made the Sidekick such an iconic device, and supercharged it with communication and entertainment experiences that take full advantage of our 4G network,” says Andrew Sherrard, T-Mobile’s senior vice president of product management.

The T-Mobile Sidekick is the phone that (arguably) started the smartphone revolution in 2002. Before the iPhone burst onto the scene, wowing us with its capacitive touch display and light, slender form, the Sidekick kept us connected with instant messaging through its signature spin-out display and QWERTY keyboard. It was an especially big hit among teens, whose texting habits primed them to see the value of a keyboard (and who were about as likely to use a BlackBerry as they were to wear a navy blue blazer).

Over the years the Sidekick got upgraded, and upgraded again, but it eventually lost out to a new breed of app-filled, touchscreen smartphones.

The Sidekick 4G built by Samsung is an attempt to make the iconic name competitive with today’s best smartphones. Accordingly, it’s got the obligatory 1-GHz processor (a Cortex A8 Hummingbird). It runs Android 2.2 Froyo, a respectably recent version of Google’s mobile operating system.

According to a T-Mobile statement, “Android continues to be a strategic bet for T-Mobile, and we’re expanding the current lineup to offer a robust messaging experience on a popular platform — at speeds as fast as your home broadband.”

The Sidekick will also act as a mobile hotspot for up to five devices, and it will connect with T-Mobile’s 4G network, wherever that is available.

Of course, 4G doesn’t mean what it used to. In this case, it refers to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, which the carrier claims will give you 5 to 10 Mbps of download bandwidth.

If you used to own a Sidekick, would you ditch your current phone for a 4G Android version? Sound off in the comments.

Sidekick 4G [T-Mobile via MobileCrunch and Android Community]