Sega promised to bring its Sonic 4 franchise to Android and even showed off Episode 2 which is set to hit Tegra devices sometime this year. While that news was exciting, we were still missing the episode that started it all — Episode 1. Well guess what? That iconic blue hedgehog has spun his way into the Android Market and is ready to pick up where he and Knuckles left off.
Google released their Q4 earnings today, and while the money side of things is good, with $2.71 billion in profit on $8.13 billion in revenue, I’m sure you’re more concerned about Android than you are money — right? Even if you’re not, I’m going to share with you some Android numbers being thrown around to give you a better idea of how well Android is doing, and how well it continues to grow.
The Android Market saw staggering growth in 2011 and thanks to some tracking done by Distimo, we have a better look at how the numbers play out in comparison to Android’s top competitor Apple. According to Distimo, the Android Market has now reached over 400,000 apps, which is still 100K shy of Apple’s 500K+ active apps available according to 148apps metrics. While Android still trails in overall apps, it’s really the rate at which it’s growing that is impressive.
Android 4.0 was created to help unify Android across all devices. Yesterday, Google took that goal of unification one step further. From here on out, any device running Android 4.0 with the Android Market, will require the inclusion of the unmodified Holo theme family. The Holo theme family consists of the themes Theme.Holo, Theme.Holo.Light, and Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar. You can see examples of these three themes in the above image. These requirements will help better control the rampant “fragmentation” of Android and will allow manufactures to continue using their own custom themes, while providing a familiar experience.
Sega has announced its next installment of the popular side-scrolling classic Sonic the Hedgehog. After receiving award-winning success with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 episode I, Sega has listened to user feedback and is proud to announce episode II. Episode II features all-new character animations, a reworked physics engine, expansive storyline, and a familiar furry sidekick. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 episode II is set to hit the Android Market sometime in 2012 and will feature support for mobile devices powered by the NVIDIA Tegra mobile processor, including an enhanced version for Tegra 3 devices.
