Shortly after paid applications began rolling out in the Android Market, it was shown in great detail that “protected” applications aren’t very protected from copying and redistribution when installed on an Android Developer’s Phone. As the only sort of protection on the application is installing it in an otherwise inaccessible folder, this of course is not a problem on the Developer’s Phone.
It’s easy to postulate that Google responded to this by blocking access to “protected” applications from unlocked Developer’s Phones. It is not exactly clear if this is only on the ADP or any rooted G1. The average user does not have a $400 Developer’s Phone or a rooted G1, so it seems that Google thought this sort of protection was enough to keep most applications safe. But blocking popular applications from developers does not seem like a very good move, after all, they are the ones driving the Market and you can’t assume that everyone that purchased the Developer’s Phone is going to start pirating every paid app on the market. This is starting to upset some developers, one of which is trying to organize a backlash of pulling apps from the Market. And it even appears that Google employees are upset about this, as shown by this post in the Android Market discussion group.
What are your thoughts? Do you have a rooted G1 or a Developer’s Phone, and have you been affected?
