Google has just sent out an Email to select Android developers informing them that they are eligible to receive either a Verizon Droid or a Nexus One, as part of its ‘Device Seeding Program’. The criteria for getting one of the phones is to have an application with 3.5 stars or higher and more than 5,000 downloads, which sounds like it could include quite a few developers.
In an odd move, Google isn’t actually allowing the developers to pick which device they’re receiving — if you’re in the US, you’ll get a Droid or Nexus One, at random. If you’re in Canada, the EU, Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore, you get a Nexus One. If you’re not in any of those, you don’t get a phone at all (Google explains that the phones aren’t certified in other countries).
So why is Google doing this? Android is already having to deal with fragmentation issues, as a large number of users (and developers) have older phones that aren’t running Android 2.0. Now that the Droid, which runs 2.0, comprises a big part of Android’s market share, it’s in Google’s best interest to make sure that Android’s best developers are building software that’s compatible with the latest devices. The free phones also serve as a nice carrot to entice developers to build quality applications.
Here’s the Email Google is sending out:
Due to your contribution to the success of Android Market, we would
like to present you with a brand new Android device as part of our
developer device seeding program. You are receiving this message
because you’re one of the top developers in Android Market with one or
more of your applications having a 3.5 star or higher rating and more
than 5,000 unique downloads.In order to receive this device, you must click through to this site,
read the terms and conditions of the offer and fill out the
registration form to give us your current mailing address so that we
can ship your device.You will receive either a Verizon Droid by Motorola or a Nexus One.
Developers with mailing addresses in the US will receive either a
Droid or Nexus one, based on random distribution. Developers from
Canada, EU, and the EEA states (Norway, Lichtenstein), Switzerland,
Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore will receive a Nexus One. Developers
with mailing addresses in countries not listed above will not receive
a phone since these phones are not certified to be used in other
countries.We hope that you will enjoy your new device and continue to build more
insanely popular apps for Android!
Update:: And here’s a followup statement from Google about the program (it’s real, for those of you who are worried that it’s a scam):
A thriving developer community is an important part of creating a better mobile experience for users around the world. We hope that offering devices to developers will make it easier for them to create and test great applications. This is inline with other efforts to support developers, which also includes our Android Developer Labs World Tour and our upcoming participation at the Game Developers Conference.
Yep, this is legitimate. Is Google making a statement against Apple?
And what better way to award your dear developers than to give them the superphone… Right?
Hopefully, (like you are mentioning) this has nothing to do with the Apple vs HTC lawsuit.
Have u guys been able to confirm this? It looks very very fake, I wouldn’t recommend people to jump on this before getting confirmation from google.
this was just confirmed by one of devs on android team. http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/49da01a3cb7f8803?pli=1
yeah I’m still not convinced, I’d wait for something official
Google PR gave me a statement about it, it’s legit.
ok good, but could you guys bring back the colored comments back, how do I know it’s really you Jason.
I know I’m being paranoid but couldn’t anybody post as you or Mike as I’m doing, or do you guys filter out comments.
Look in the post :) And the colors are coming back soon.
Sorry about the double comment
Ok it’s real then. Congrats to all the devs gettin free Nexus One and Droids. Google made me remember what month it is thinking it was another April’s Fool day joke from Google
I don’t know… I just tried to view “Roman Nurik”‘s profile via the link on that page, and got an error.
Roman Nurik has some programming cred out there (and a pretty good-looking Android theme for Chrome), but that may or may not be him posting.
Are Google devs’ profiles hidden on those forums or something? And shouldn’t we see a message saying that instead of an error if we try to view their profile?
I’m also pretty wary of this email, the fact that the registration form is hosted on google sites worries me. Has anybody been able to verify this with Google?
I’ve received one of these. Replied the email and got this.
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
android-market-seeding@google.com
I bet it’s scam ;)
Actually, looking at it again… They used my real email instead of my public email. Unless they got their database hacked it should be legit.
I replied to android-market-seeding@google.com
about an hour ago and this is the message I received a couple of minutes later:
“Thank you for inquiring about our device seeding program. This is an
automated message, but if you have a specific question, we will respond to
it quickly.
Thanks,
Android Developer Relations”
I guess they’re giving them away since soon they won’t legally be allowed to sell them.
OMG why the developers and not the people that made Android big. The people with a 2 year contract with a G1 / Dream. The early adopters that have an old phone now and still need to use it for a year with no updates.
ok good, but could you guys bring back the colored comments back, how do I know it’s really you Jason.
I know I’m being paranoid but couldn’t anybody post as you or Mike as I’m doing, or do you guys filter out comments.
Drats! I barely missed the cutoff!
wooohooo free android 2.0 phone. Now maybe I can make my flippin apps work on it.
I would like a free Google Nexus phone too..lol
Just wait, you’ll get a free one in a few months, if you’re in the right place.
Based on Android numbers, it should represent roughly 1000 developers. http://www.androlib.com/appstatsdownloads.aspx
There are actually 5617.98 apps that qualify for the >5000 downloads mark
Probably 5000 or so will have a rating of 3.5 or higher.
These 5000 qualifying apps are probably made by between 2000-3000 unique developers so that’s comparable with earlier giveaways like the Google Ion, at the TED conference, dog-fooding and popular youtube channels.
I think it is a smart concept to give away between 10000 and 15000 free phones to developers. It will surely drive your market quality (as opposed to Apple who gives away phones to celebrities which only boosts sales and popularity, but not quality).
Hey everybody,
First off, congrats on qualifying. We rock.
Second, we don’t know yet which phone we’ll get, but… I DO know people will want to switch. I’ve set up a forum where we can trade info… http://www.evoiceusa.com/forum.php . For verification, you’ll have to send an email from your developer email address to android at evoiceusa.com with the app that qualifies you and your desired user name. If it all checks out I’ll approve you… and hopefully we can all get the free phone we want :)
What? No Nexus One in Australia? Boooo
This is good news for Android devs, since they only make pennys with their apps and cannot buy
phones for themselves.
It’s kind of like when Pontiac randomly gave out free Aztecs just to put more on the road. That didn’t work either.
Which phone should i get if i want to start making android apps? :/
This is pretty cool stuff! Congrats to all the developers who got it :)
Congrats developers, you are now locked into a 2 year agreement at ~$100/month.
Not exactly.
Why should we? Dev phones are unlocked
Er, no. Sim-free, so you can use it however you want.
:) I also got that email and got confirmed thats true from a google team.
My free App: “MyDays” is finaly downloaded over 500.000 Times and rated 4.65 :)
Thx Google and Thx to all my Users.
This is what Google should have done from the get-go to gain market share! Either given away the phone or sold it really cheap – like $99 – to the general public who would then use it on whatever cell phone network they were subscribed too. Google could have then gotten a huge chunk of market share immediately and this would have encouraged developers to jump on the platform.
Just got my N1 in the mail today.
I don’t need to say how much better it is than the G1.
I got my Droid in the mail yesterday. It’s a huge step up from my G1, but I don’t have Verizon so I don’t know what I’m going to do after the 30-day account expires.
After your 30 account expires, just turn on your wifi and (if you have another android phone I am willing to bet it is rooted like) run the wifi router.
Just got the Droid today. Had some trouble and used the factory reset. Mistake. Now I’m locked out and must activate Verizon service to use the phone. Any suggestions on how to unlock it? Only one day of use on the 30 day trial.
@Ben: Did you manage to get that worked out?
I did a hack to get it working again. I set the Droid up on my personal line and then called Verizon to revert my account back to my original phone. The demo phone is still synced to my personal gmail account, but at least it is unlocked.
Not a perfect solution but at least the Droid is working on WiFi again instead of being bricked.
I received a free droid from google as well. Once the free 30 day trial is up what happens? I already have a verizon account, so can I just switch my service over to the droid once the trial is up. I tried to switch it over now, but Verizon said that its already activated ( I guess by Google…) and that I needed to talk to them to deactivate it before I can put my own number on there.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
I’m learning more and more about the websites through Google wiki and I’m using a droid eris a couple more months I will share what what I have drawn up .
I just got my Droid this morning. Sad thing is, the papers that came with it said “We’re pleased to present you with a complimentary Nexus One.” I really wanted to see how that phone felt!
Same here. I just received a Droid, a phone which I already own. I hoped for an N1 so I can test with different phones.
i'ts very real.. Youtube user RayWilliamJohnson got one… lucky bastard…