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Comment by rodh257 | Hacker News Reader

"Both Apple and Google have demonstrated that they want to be the only source of commercial apps for their platform."

Have Google really done this? Isn't there soon to be Playstation app store among others? And you can always download files away from the Market?

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And soon to be an amazon app store.

And yes, so far as I know most android phones allow installation of apps from anywhere via a simple checkbox setting.

To put it lightly, this substantially weakens the argument.

The example in my mind was Kongregate being removed from the Market. It got back on, but the comments from Kongregate referenced "competing app stores".

Kongregate was removed from Google Market, but that does not prevent it from being distributed separately (On Android you can download apps directly from the web and install them, without using the app store).

Unless you're on AT&T.

Suddenly I'm sensing a pattern...

That's funky. I just downloaded an apk and installed it on my phone.

On, uh, AT&T.

So you're using a custom rom or you're rooted. I thought it was obvious I was referring to stock. You can also run whatever you want on an iPhone if you root.

Stock 2.2. Not rooted. Settings > Applications > [checked] Unknown sources.

Which phones allow this? I'm honestly curious, I thought AT&T had switched that off on all models. Is yours grandfathered in or are they releasing new models with unknown sources enabled?

Given his "Stock 2.2" comment, best guess would be the Nexus One with AT&T bands. Since it wasn't sold by AT&T, it doesn't have the APK installation locked down.

I believe even the AT&T phones with Unknown Sources disabled allow sideloading with ADB. Not that that's a good option for most users.

Couldn't reply threaded.

@jancona: I didn't sideload with ADB. I copied the .apk to my phone via USB and used a file manager to access my file system. Tapping on the apk installed it just fine. If AT&T disables sideloading with ADB, how do developers test their apps on AT&T's Android offering?

@lukeschlather: I'm using a Nexus One; it may not be possible for phones customized specifically by AT&T. If this is the case, it's pretty f'n unfortunate.

Was it not a one off problem that was rectified:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.kongregate.android...

Also, in the blog's comments you were asking if Google will allow the distribution of another App Market to be distributed via the Android Market, looks like they do:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.appspot.swisscodem...

I could be misreading what you had posted, if so, apologies in advance.

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