Android Market in Malaysia
Disclaimer: I am not bashing Google, and other companies just for fun. In fact I hope they can improve for the benefits of all the users.
Now that I have stated my disclaimer I will provide the Official Reasoning (or what looks like legit so far) on why this is happening. First thing is you must understand the Malaysian Handphone (not only limited to smartphones but all Handphones) market is way different that those from UK and USA, in those two countries when people look to buy a phone they will go their operators (Vodafone, AT&T, Verizon, Rogers, T-Mobile, Orange, etc) to get a discounted phone with a contract (most likely 12-24months). Yes, recently this thrend has been getting popular in Malaysia too, thanks to the introduction of Blackberry and Iphone handsets, but majority of the Malaysian public buys Handphones from Handphone shops, and not telcos (Maxis, Digi, Celcom, U-mobile). Basically point is that we are opposite of UK and USA. (another reasoning is because we use 100% GSM, hence why we do this, since CDMA technology will ensure you most likely get a phone from your telco)
If you actually talk to Google Employee's they will tell you to get the full Android Marketplace in Malaysia. both the Phone Maker (In Malaysia's case most-likely HTC or Samsung) and the Telco providing the phone must be part of the OpenHandSet Alliance. ( List of members can be seen here. http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html ). So what we have here is we have the OEM part of the OHA but not the telcos.
Some response I got from Google is saying that the telco I am using is choosing not to include the Android Marketplace with my phone, which is confusing since I didnt buy a phone from my Telco (in my case Maxis-My). So basically, if our telcos in Malaysia don't want join OHA, we are screwed not to get Android Marketplace at all. As you can check list of countries where Android Marketplace (Full Free + Paid) is available has both the Phone Maker + Telcos representing them in the OHA. So now unless anyone here got any idea how to push Maxis, Digi, etc etc to joining the OSA and help to push for Android marketplace we wont be seeing it for a very long long long time. According to Google, they give 30% profits from Paid Apps to the Telco's anyways so I don't see a disadvantage for our local telcos, I mean they will be getting more money.
But then we come to another problem, Google expects that the Telco's version of the Android Marketplace must be in a Firmware customized by the Telco itself. Which I doubt any local telco wants to do it. So now even I am lost what to do.
Another reason Google Claims is because of Copy-protection, the currect marketplace (paid one) copy-protection can be by-passed by root users using a bug. Basically if your friend buy's a paid app you can take it from him and use it. Which is ironically funny, since almost everyone I know with an Android Phone in Malaysia is currently with custom firmware (rooted) and some even have those paid apps installed free of charge. This supposed to stop the piracy, but in turn it looks like it is encouraging it.
One now may wonder how come Apple with it's iTunes App Store is already in Malaysia but Google's Android Marketplace is not. Well we need to think back, in 2008 before the Iphone was official launched in Malaysia many people were still having trouble buying songs from iTunes, let alone apps from the App Store. Only when Maxis officially launched the iPhone were most of us able to use iTunes fully. Remember iTunes ecosystem is really old, it exist way back when the first Ipod came out around early 2003. Apple only managed to get their iTunes ecosystem worldwide (almost all countries) by around late 2009. Google however just started Android Marketplace in 2008 so it will take lots of time for them work it out. But since Android Marketplace depends on Google Checkout account, we can only hope once Checkout is officially available here then Android Marketplace will follow.
I just hope this brief explanation helps to highlight what is going on. If you feel I am wrong, please by all means do correct me. I am only repeating what I get from Emails from HTC and Google and also the Android help forums. Some of the info was gotten from the Google Employee's who came down during the DevFest too. I myself now being a long time Android Fan/ evangelist am trying desperately to love the operating system but it is getting harder day by day due to some of it's flaws.
Conclusion: For Android Marketplace to be fully available in Malaysia we need to have some Malaysian telco representing us in the OpenHandSet Alliance, get Google Checkout officially available in Malaysia and buy phones who are produced by OEM members of the OpenHandSet Allaince.
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