Mobile app store GetJar has exclusively launched the full Android version of the popular Angry Birds game for free, funded by advertising.
The move means GetJar becomes the first distributor of the game, ahead of the Android app store.
As a testament to the game’s popularity, the huge volume of traffic to GetJar following the announcement took out the store’s servers within minutes. Despite this, Angry Birds was downloaded almost 95,000 times within the first three hours on Friday.
The game is free but features mobile advertising, and Rovio said a future update will include the option to purchase and opt out of advertisements.
Angry Birds will run on second generation Android devices and upwards, with Android platform 1.6 or later, and the user’s device needs to support OpenGL ES 2.0.
QVGA display resolution is not supported currently, but support for QVGA devices will be added soon.
To get the game now, users can download Angry Birds for free exclusively from GetJar (http://www.getjar.com/angry-birds).
It will soon be available on the Android Market and Motorola SHOP4APPS, where it will also be free of charge.
“Selecting GetJar as the place to launch our first ever full Android version of Angry Birds was an obvious choice,” said Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle at Rovio Mobile. “GetJar’s global reach and popularity as well as their unique App It! download service ensures that we reach a massive audience of fanatically loyal Angry Birds addicts.
“The unique App It! link means we can also cross promote our Symbian and Android versions without the need to send folks to multiple places to get their favorite game.”
“We’ve seen a significant spike in the submission of Android apps on GetJar, so we are quite pleased that Rovio, developers of the smoking hot game Angry Birds, has come to us to offer the first full Android version of the game to our millions of consumers,” said Patrick Mork, CMO at GetJar.
“Android is one of our fastest growing platforms with downloads growing up to 500 percent since April of this year. As developers go cross platform and look for global scale and reach, GetJar’s billion+ downloads and ease of discovery provide the ideal channel for developers to distribute content quickly and easily to consumers. As a result of its reach, GetJar is perfectly positioned to complement Android Market by extending developers distribution to more than 200 countries all over the world.”
www.getjar.com
