Paid Apps on Android Market Unavailable for Dev 1 Phones

It seems that a bunch of users will not be able to enjoy the applications that are offered on the Android Market. Not all of them, indeed, but those that you will have to pay for are not available for purchase for users who own an Android Dev 1 version of the HTC Dream.

It seems that Google decided to make this move due to the fact that the dev version of the phone gives users full root access, meaning that they would be able to access the hidden folders where the apps were stored, as well as every file in the device. Given this, users would be then provided with a rather easy way to pirate any app they would purchase from the Android Market.

In order to prevent the pirating of the paid applications that are available at the Android Market, Google is said to have prevented the rooted Android Dev 1 phones from accessing them. On the other hand, there are some other G1 rooted devices available on the market, and it seems that users who own such a device are able to purchase apps from the portal.

The fact that there are some limitations that Google imposes to those who own a rooted HTC Dream phone might easily upset some of its users. It is rather annoying to know that you have paid $400 for a device that has been blocked from accessing an app portal that has been created for you. And it doesn't matter if the device that you own is radio unlocked or not; what’s important is that you have access to the root folders.

“The Developer version of the G1 is designed to give developers complete flexibility,” Google said in a statement. “These phones give developers of handset software full permissions to all aspects of the device... We aren't distributing copy protected applications to these phones in order to minimize unauthorized copy of the applications.”