Raise your hand if you use a Mac, but also like Android-driven geekery. (Counts.) Hmmm, that’s a fair number of you. Privately-held BlueStacks has something you might like.
At this week’s I/O developer conference, the company introduced Android App Player for Mac OS X. Install the environment, and you’ll get a variety of pre-loaded Android apps and the option to download more. But be warned: the software is still in alpha testing, which means there are plenty of bugs still to be found and swatted.
Expect a more stable version soon enough. BlueStacks already has a beta version for Windows, which received accolades at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in January, and from CNET’s editors since. There’s every reason to believe the Mac version will be just as impressive.
How do Apple
Cute, but also telling. Why endorse App Player when Apple wants to beat Google and vice versa?
Even so, posturing doesn’t change the truth that, were you to survey the audience of I/O, you’d undoubtedly find hundreds of Mac users hunting and pecking away notes about the latest Android and Chrome OS breakthroughs. I was among that group last year, and I’m still using Android, the Chrome OS, and Mac OS X on a daily basis.
My point? It really doesn’t matter what Apple and Google think. BlueStacks has a killer app in the making because users like cross-platform compatibility. But don’t take my word for it; look at the data. Virtualization software suppliers Citrix
Breaking bad rules
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