Google Ion Coming Soon As ADP2?
What do you get when you take the hardware of the HTC Dream and T-Mobile G1, remove all branding and unlock the phone? You get the Android Dev Phone 1 which is sold directly by Google to developers. Except right now, you cannot buy it.
When you’re logged into Android Market’s Developer Backend there is usually an option to purchase a Dev phone in the lower left hand corner:
Development phones
As a registered developer, you can purchase an unlocked phone.
Buy now »
While that option IS there, clicking it runs some quick AJAX that quickly errors and puts you right back where you started in much less than a second. What the heck could be going on? When that link IS active and working it actually brings you OFF the Android Market site/domain to the following URL:
But attempting to go to that domain name just leads to the same outcome, redirecting you to your developer homepage if logged in and taking you to the login screen if you are not. Why is the Android Dev Phone page unavailable?
Just a guess here, but I think we’ll be seeing the Google Ion land as the next ADP (Android Developer Phone) available to developers. I could be wrong and this could be a temporary glitch to which Google is currently tending. But its much more fun to think and follow the former. I suppose we could see an unannounced device become ADP2 but the chances are… eh, it ain’t gonna happen.
For those with developer accounts, check in periodically and let us know if you notice anything funky.
[Via it sucking when I tried to buy one and couldn’t]