Rovio launched its full Android version of Angry Birds on Friday and the popular multi-platform game caused a stir. The game launched exclusively with GetJar and promptly crashed their servers. Despite its efforts, GetJar was unable to ramp up fast enough to meet demand and Rovio had to launch the app in the Android Market earlier than planned. With two marketplaces offering the app for download, Android fans were finally able to snag the download and launch some birds at those wily pigs.
Rovio confirmed via Twitter this weekend that the number of downloads on that first rocky day exceeded one million. While Angry Birds is not the first application to break this notable milestone, it did so with unsurpassed rapidity. Other applications like Adobe Flash 10.1 and Skyfire for Android have been downloaded one million times but it took those apps weeks and months to reach that number, not hours.
This milestone is significant as it shows the popularity of mobile devices as a casual gaming platform and confirms that Android is no slouch when its comes to the mobile applications market. Any lingering doubt about Google’s mobile OS as a viable option for mobile app development should be dispelled. Android may not be able to boast of 300,000 apps in its marketplace but it is an up and coming force that should be considered by any company or individual developer deciding on a business plan for mobile application development.