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Japanese carrier KDDI now pushing ads to Android notification bar

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For many Android users, so-called bloatware is the bane of their existence. Carrier-crafted apps and game demos crowd their applications drawer and perhaps even collect data behind users’ backs. As intrusive as that sounds, nothing is quite as bad as what subscribers to Japan’s KDDI have coming. Through their pre-installed Android Market alternative, KDDI is pushing ads directly to the Android notification bar, complete with an alert.

The concept is similar to propositions by the likes of AirPush and SlingLabs that allow developers to place notification bar ads in their applications, except the KDDI market isn’t so easily uninstalled. We can’t speak for how the move will go over in Japan, but the contingent of Android fans in the US will surely want nothing to do with this sort of advertising directly from the carrier. If AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile (or even Google directly) are so bold as to follow in KDDI’s footsteps, the response will be anything but kind from users.

[Asiajin via Engadget]

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14 Comments

  1. Is that an ad for Samurai swords?  What a deal!!

  2. “Screw customer satisfaction, move forward with the rape!!!” This is what KDDI is saying to their customers.

  3. I wonder how long this will remain active, before due to overwhelming customer dissatisfaction it is removed again

  4. This kind of $#it should be outlawed.

  5. contract killer pushes ads to me. 
    glu can go to hell.

    1. “LBE Privacy Guard” should fix that for you.

  6. I live in the UK and any phone manufacturer or carrier that tries to pull this stunt will be boycotted by me. This “in your face” advertising is not welcome!!

  7. Seems like something American carriers would do.

  8. I’d root my phone so fast the execs at KDDI’s heads would spin.  That is bulllsheeet

  9. I rather get an Iphone than to have ads in my notification bar. …it’s that bad.

  10. Google better keep this bullshit on their watch. this kind of bullshit WILL ruin android experience. it will bite Google back on their asses.
    Google, you have been warned.

  11. If I am forced to get ads on my phone like this, I will switch to a Windows phone.

  12. I wonder if they deliberately used the 13:37 time stamp.
    I’ve had an app before that put ads in the notification bar. Needless to say, it was uninstalled immediately. If it was actually possible to uninstall it, shoot it, set it on fire, then blow it up, I’d have done that as well, with great satisfaction.

  13. That sucks… I would leave that carrier ASAP.

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