By Tuckerson, yr12 intern.
Apple has long had its flagship fishbowl stores in Melbourne and Sydney where we can go for all our Apple needs. Well it now seems Telstra and Google are trying to one-up Apple by creating a wonderland for all those geeks, the kids and regular people interested in sweet technology.
Devised by Telstra this June and built into the top floor of its central Melbourne retail store, the Androidland room contains plenty of games for customers to experience. There is even a huge Angry Birds game in a 'spaceship' zone to highlight the fact that the world's most popular app is available at the Android app store—not just on iTunes.
While Telstra claims the project is simply to enlighten customers; promoting the multi-platform operating system is also an attempt to break Apple's popularity in the Australian smartphone market.
Australia is one of the iPhone’s leading markets but, according to analysts, a mixture of Apple’s premium prices and their closed eco-systems makes it less than appealing to carriers compared to the open sourced nature of Android.
Many customers purchase one or two-year contracts believing they are receiving free phones, but in reality, the carriers are the ones paying for them from the manufacturers. Most Android phones cost less than the iPhone, meaning a greater profit for the Telcos.
In comes Androidland, Telstra’s way of getting the word out about the alternative to the iPhone in Australia, which it does very, very well (unlike the 3D in 3D smartphones). It provides a liveable Android experience, which could turn even the most committed Apple fan-boy (or girl). As well as that, you can of course, play with all of Telstra’s Android phones in the store to get the true handset experience, but after having a go at the liquid phone (yes, liquid) you would have already been convinced.
Enough of my talk, Telstra created a video which explains it way better, here it is: