Anti-Pirates: Coming Soon to an Android Near You

Posted by scottsil on July 28, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

Soon, Android users around the world will no longer need to live in constant fear of pirates. Software pirates, that is. Today Google announced the availability of its new Licensing Service for applications in the Android Market. This service will permit developers to have their application “phone home” to verify it’s a legitimate copy.

This is good news for Android users with limited internal space, as the current Android copy protection mechanism prohibits applications from being installed on non-secure media (read: SD cards). However, the costs of fighting pirates could be significant. Developers can choose how frequently their apps check with Google’s servers = frequent data transmission = dead battery. And what if you have no service—will your apps still run? (Airplanes, tunnels, and basements, oh my!)

[via Android Developers via TechCrunch]

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