[Update] Angry Birds is Free, & It’s Out!
Just as we expected to wake up to, Rovio has released Angry Birds. Many of you woke up excited to find an email directing you to download it from GetJar and couldn’t wait to send us an email right after your morning of light reading. Trust us, we feel your excitement. And just as we expected, there is a paid version coming that does away with those ads. Rovio’s decided to go this route “due to the state of the Android market.” I don’t blame them: trying to make money on Android is no easy feat. Users seem lethargic when it comes to purchasing apps in the Android market compared to folks on iPhone or Symbian, but we’ve already gone over this.
They also want users in every country to be able to enjoy the game as Android still doesn’t support paid applications in many countries. Finally, they have to deal with fragmentation so they don’t want to force users to pay for something that doesn’t work right. A lot of factors went into their decision to make a free offering alongside a paid offering (coming later today), and I’m glad Rovio handled it as carefully as possible.
But you really don’t care about why they did that stuff, at this point. What you care about are those damned green pigs that stole your army of birds’ eggs. Go get ’em starting with a download from GetJar. (Android market support coming within 24 hours, says Rovio.)
PS: Don’t try to go to their site right now – way too many people are trying to connect. That’s how big this release is.
[Update]: You’ll have to grab the .APK courtesy of GetJar, for now. The problem with that is that the amount of users now trying to get Angry Birds from GetJar is bringing their servers to its knees, too. We just want sweet revenge for our birds. Please allow us to exact that revenge soon, Rovio!
[Update 2]: And just as we expected, Angry Birds can now be found in the Android market. This should be your first-stop shop for the game as GetJar’s servers have been unbearably icky due to all of the traffic. And the market is just a better option overall. So go get it!