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Before you Chicken-Littles start screaming that the sky is falling, PAY ATTENTION: this should in no way affect consumers, people using android apps/games, or people who want to access android market on their phone and download apps/games, upgrade apps/games or return apps/games they already purchased. This should only affect developers.
That being said, here is the e-mail I just received from the Google Android Team
Hello,
We’re writing to inform you about a planned service outage impacting Android Market that requires your attention.
We plan to perform maintenance on the Android Market Developer Console on Thursday 18 November 2010 from 10AM to 4PM Pacific Standard Time. During this time, there will be view-only access to the Developer Console at http://market.android.com/publish. You will be able to view your list of applications and error reports; however, you will not be able to upload new apps or make updates to existing apps. The publish status of your applications and use of the Android Market app on phones should not be impacted.
Thanks, and we appreciate your patience while we work to improve Android Market.
Regards,
The Android Market Team
So there a couple things to note here:
- If you’re a developer, don’t schedule any huge launches or updates on November 18th
- Is this just house keeping? Keeping everything oiled and running smoothly or could we see improved functionality and additional features?
I’m really hoping this means some type of overhaul or at least laying the groundwork and infrastructure for an overhaul. At Google IO we heard about some awesome plans Google had for Android Market in the coming year. Yesterday, at the Web 2.0 conference, Eric Schmidt talked about the opportunity to build upon the “application layer” as he called it and even discussed the huge opportunity on “distribution of digital media”.
Combine that verbage and I immediately think “Google’s version of iTunes?” but I wouldn’t dare actually jump to that conclusion – only hope for it. But remember that back in July we were promised Google Music to launch at the end of the year (or early 2011). After promising “a day you’ll never forget”, Apple announced that the Beatles were finally available on iTunes. While it may have strong monetary implications, in terms of strategy it isn’t that big of a deal. Could Google be laying the groundwork for their own version of “a day you’ll never forget”?
I’m sure they’re working on some huge things, but I doubt we’ll see anything substantial this week. However, we do have a lot of Android Market goodies to look forward to. I would love to be surprised by Google TV options within Android Market’s back end but that’s not likely to come until 2011. I would love to see advanced features for a full on website or desktop software to browse apps, games, ebooks, and beyond. Maybe Google is giving developers/publishers options in relation to the Amazon Android Market we’ve heard so much about?
Chances are that this is just a regular old boring maintenance release, just as the tone of the e-mail states… but can’t an Android-lover hope?
FIRST…
Maybe its for paypal? I hope.
Hopefully it is for paypal, I’d for sure welcome that.
i knew they got fired
Again someone with the stupid first comments. Gotta love it..not!
Hopefully it is paypal AND an antipiracy measure.
Maybe integrating a web browser market with chrome to phone to push apps from the web.
eh.
sokal, i hope you’re not 26 years old still posting crap like that.
Seems there was a follow-up E-mail correcting a mistake. It now starts at 10PM on Thursday the 18th (instead of 10AM), and ends on Friday at 4AM (instead of 4PM on Thursday).
im pretty sure its for the market cleanup they are doing.. all the dev’s who wont update their apps for newer devices and only work on certain android firmware versions will only be viewable to those handsets. like if some app only works for android 1.6 then only those phone running it can view it in the marketplace.. (and i hope not but maybe that could mean android 2.1update 1 apps may not be able to be viewable on the market for android 2.2 users)
@SoKal26, grow up you dumb Fuck…. who the hell posts 1st!!…. are you 9 years old???… dam, so annoying.
What if its just really what they say.. maintenance.
Just sniffed round the code, looking like they are adding Paypal and Adsense options into the console!
Interesting!
I don’t get why some people think paypal would be such a great addition. Google checkout works great. Don’t see the point in a middle man.
More info :)
http://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=189263
tim242: throw away all your credit cards, then see if you can’t think of a use for paypal.
It probably has more to do with this than anything else:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/11/market-housekeeping-alert.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FhsDu+%28Android+Developers+Blog%29
Yeah really, I’d rather use my PayPal balance to pay then burn a credit card….
thedicemaster: I don’t own any credit cards. I use my debit card. To use paypal, you have to use a credit card, debit card, or checking account. Well, every checking account has a debit card associated with it, whether you use it or not. So, tell me again why paypal, or a credit card for that matter, is necessary.
Who cares about Google check out or paypal? No dev will ever see a single cent from me until I can bill it to my Verizon bill, as with every other phone I’ve owned in my lifetime. Neither one of em is getting my card number. Not that it matters though, as I don’t expect that to be the changes they make. If anything its prep for gingerbread and an updated front end.
I personally am not bothered about PayPal in the market, but I can understand why lots of people would be interested. Google checkout is only available in a fairly limited number of countries, whereas paypal is available nearly everywhere.
I was hesitant about doing it differently in the beginning. But, it is easy. I have not had one issue. Carrier billing will just make your bill higher, which is prob coming from your credit/debit card anyway. If you were a dev, would you want to get paid once per month, or a few times per week? Carrier billing would be harder to refund. Apps would cost more, as carriers would want a piece. It just seems like an unnecessary middle man, same as paypal.
No PayPal yet, but I noticed some changes:
http://www.droidsector.com/blog/2010/11/17/new-changes-in-android-market/
Maybe the site should have a feature to automatically delete the first post. The first post is always the one loudly proclaiming that the poster has the lowest intelligence.
Its all well and good Google doing developer maintenance, but how about pushing out a new version of Market for everyone that has version 1.82. I’ve gotten nothing but “Download Unsuccessful” since last week.
I E-mailed Android Support about this and got told basicly, your fucked until a fix or a new version of Market is available
Who puts ‘first’ on the first comment??? So asinine…..
tim242: where you come from maybe.
here any account only comes standard with a pin card, which can’t be used for credit-card payments.
paypal registers fine with such an account though.