Android App Sale: Popular Apps Available For 10 Cents Each For 10 Days

The Android Market just notched its ten-billionth app download, and to celebrate, Google is offering up to 100 of its most popular apps for ten cents each for the next ten days. Ten new apps will be added each day, from now until December 16.

The apps that are on sale for ten cents on the first day of the promotion, with links to each, are:

• Great Little War Game, a 3D turn-based military strategy game
• SketchBook Mobile, a paint and drawing application
• Paper Camera, a set of camera filters including a unique "paper" filter
• SoundHound Infinity, which can identify songs by listening to them
• Asphalt 6, a racing game with Ferraris and Lambourghuinis.
• Fieldrunners HD, a fast-paced Tower Defense game
• SwiftKey X, a multi-language Android keyboard with improved corrections
• Minecraft - Pocket Edition, which allows you to create Minecraft worlds on your phone
• Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, a fitness app and GPS tracker for exercise
• Color and Draw for Kids, a fun drawing and coloring app for children

Each of these apps will be available in the Android Market for ten cents (or 0.10 pounds, or 10 cents Canadian) until December 16.

Google announced the ten billion app milestone on its Android Developers blogspot page while also dropping the bomb that Android users are now downloading one billion apps per month. A graph provided by Google's dev team shows the exponential growth of Android app downloads since the platform launched in 2008.

LOOK:

Android app downloads aren't the only things that have exploded lately: Mobilewalla recently announced that the number of available apps across ALL platforms will soon pass one million; an estimated 320,000 of those are in the Android Market (Google has not yet released an official count), and almost 600,000 in iTunes. BlackBerry and Windows Phone make up a little less than 100,000 apps combined.

However, Android's malware problem is also an exploding one. As the platform has grown, the amount of malicious software invading the platform has risen, too. In fact, the research division of Juniper Networks recently called Android's problem a "malware epidemic," and a study by Bit9 found that nearly all of the year's most vulnerable smartphones were running Google's Android software.

Android's huge app market, for the time being, is in celebration mode, and the Android team's blog post ends with a reminder that 90 more paid apps will become available for ten cents over the next ten days. Those deals will be announced on the Android Market homepage, so if you have one of the 200 million Android devices out there, you might want to keep the Android Market in your mind as Google rolls out more sales.

Comments

[Vladislav Rakov]

11:43 AM on 12/12/2011

Apps are what is needed to make your smartphone smart and unique.Im fond of app creating and find it really helpful to use site like snappii.com where i can build apps in minutes.

[J0E1]

03:12 PM on 12/07/2011

I would think this would be more popular. Some of the apps are awesome for 10 cents. The endomondo sports tracker free is really awesome so I went ahead and just purchased the pro for 10 cents. I never buy paid apps either. I bet if the apple store did this, it would be the headline article for a week.

[ResearchtheFacts]

11:45 AM on 12/07/2011

I just got an Android phone migrating from WinMo since my other one finally gave me just cause to shop for a new one. So many freakin apps and goods ones too. I had an Android tablet and have it loaded down with apps plus Amazon gives up a free paid app every day. Antivirus is something I always use on all my devices. 1st I rummage through the system files to see what's up making sure there is no Carrier IQ or carrier sponsored key-logger. Have location tracking anything turned off. I was waiting to get an Android phone. It is quick, responsive and has a sweet GUI which I can customize to my own usage habits. For Android you can get apps everywhere not just Android market. Most of mines come from Amazon. Wish I could go entirely Android including on my laptop but I have software I need for production I do not want to buy again. lol

[ericjVT]

11:30 AM on 12/07/2011

One thing I miss from the Android Market: cheap/free apps that you have to pay for in the App Store.

[MIMom]

10:41 AM on 12/07/2011

So...I'm new to Android. If there's a malware problem, how do you prevent it? Is there a Norton/Kaspersky type app for that?

[ResearchtheFacts]

11:34 AM on 12/07/2011

An antivirus app I think Apple pays for the negative press on Android as part of its marketing plan.

[GeorgieMark]

02:05 PM on 12/07/2011

Both norton and kaspersky have an antivirus app for android. I use both an Android tablet and a smartphone and I won't be switching any time soon (and I've tried iOS as well)

Personally I recommend you read the permissions menu before you install any app.

The google binary has a built in feature that reveals what each app has access to (e.g. your phone book contacts, gps, send and receive data over the web without prompt modify memory content etc) before you press install (on your device) you'll be shown the full list of permissions. The code writer cannot mask what the app has access to due to the way Google's built the Android SDK

So if you happen to come across a wallpaper app that requests permission to send/receive data, geolocate you via GPS, read your contacts and modify device storage, chances are you've come across malware and you shouldn't install.

The reason Android users get so easily infected is that most of them do not read the permissions menu before installing an app, which proves that a smartphone is only as smart as its user.

PS
the biggest malware app on ANY platform is facebook's official app. The app was built to read whatever you do on your phone (phone calls, emails, contacts storage content, geolocation etc) including the ability to read/delete/send/receive sms's without the user's input. At least on Android you're given a warning.

[JannielB]

10:23 AM on 12/07/2011

Amazon App Store has a free android app every day; ones that are normally charged for. I've gotten some really good apps that way.

[empress trudy]

09:38 AM on 12/07/2011

I have an HTC Evo4G. I can't ever see the need to ever have to pay for an app. I suppose some people do but everything I've ever needed to do on a phone where it's actually practical to do it on a phone I can do for free.

[Wuud52]

12:13 PM on 12/07/2011

Practical and Need are all personal things. Sounds like what you do works for you though... That is great.

[empress trudy]

12:41 PM on 12/07/2011

The thing that puzzles me is the weird pricing on the Android store. How is it that someone decided that $1.63 or $4.03 is the price?

[tony265982]

09:48 PM on 12/06/2011

IF IT AINT FREE, IT AINT FOR ME.....

[jflorish]

09:31 PM on 12/06/2011

How cheap does one have to be to jump on a 10 cent app because it's not the full $1? lol

[Ramon Moreno]

12:36 AM on 12/07/2011

Elitist.

[Sanders McGrillin]

08:16 PM on 12/06/2011

sweet

[JackTheSkipper]

07:30 PM on 12/06/2011

So far all the apps are useless.

[SoCalNick]

09:28 PM on 12/06/2011

Hey pumpkin''' You have tried every single one of the 320,000 apps?

They have all the same Apple does and more.. you are just talking shart and have no idea of what you are talking about. Are you that miserable and lonely?

I am betting you are.

That is all

[WatchingYouBuddy]

01:40 AM on 12/07/2011

SAYS THE CLUELESS APPLE FAN BOY LOL

[Arthur Spooner]

07:09 PM on 12/06/2011

If you don't have anti virus software on your smart phone and you download a lot, you are asking for trouble.

[MIKEinNYC]

07:11 PM on 12/06/2011

There's an app for that, Lookout.