Google Developers Lose Paid App Access

Google was offering the developer version of its G1 to anybody who was willing to pay the $25 developers registration fee. The funny thing that has just happened is that Google is now blocking access to paid Android applications, even to users who own such devices, which seems weird, considering these are the folks who are probably coming up with new software for the phone. These Developer G1 units are SIM and hardware unlocked, so the folks using the phone will be able to delve into the root folders, which also means that they can access the folder where paid-apps are saved, as it’s also unencrypted. Perhaps the fear is that users would try and copy the files and store them elsewhere, or take advantage of the 24-hour refund policy and then restore those apps from the backup. The strange end result is that developers who create those paid-apps aren’t able to check their own software in the Market. It will be interesting to see how Google resolves this.