SlideME Android App Store
It has frustrated me no end that Optus has continually insisted to not permit the Android App Store to operate on Google Android handsets that have an Optus SIM inserted.
The fix is simple, turn off the phone, remove Optus SIM, insert Telstra SIM, turn on the phone, select and purchase software, turn off the phone, replace Optus SIM… but that gets tedious.
To that end the SlideME application store was a welcome alternative to Google’s Android Market. It’s not locked down to carrier, you can pay via credit card or pre-authorised Amazon payment, and it was simple and easy to use.
Until a week ago.
Since then the SlideME market has been offline. It’s just returning a blank page. There’s no mention of it on their site, explaining why they are offline, or when they expect to return. The only indicator that they even have an idea is their most recent twitter post…
@eggenstein yes we are aware of the search and apps view issue. Working on a new approach and fix.
That wording gives the impression that there is something seriously wrong with the store, given it needs a whole new “approach”…
I do hope to see the SlideME back up and delivering applications soon. I hope at least for the devlopers using their sevice that if they have decided to shut down, there is money available to pay the people who put the apps online…
The SlideME goes offline by Troy Kelly, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
I think their apps are being harvested and the apps view is blocked for the time being. But SAM and SlideME is online for me. Why you say ‘offline’ in your blog?
Because the site simply returns a white page of nothing when you click on the App’s… and when I run SAM (Just re-installed from the Marketplace) – I get “o results found”..
One could be forgiven for thinking it was “offline”
given both the site and mobile application provide no means of accessing the applications, and the last entry in the SlideME twitter is a response from several days ago about the same issue.
It doesnt mean cause the apps view is not showing that slideme is offline. Search must be related to this app listing and I can see apps listed in SAM, but for seach indeed I get zero results too. I’m just against such posts where you blog that such a great effort from these guys is as you say ‘is slideme offline’ – You make it sound as if they are gone for good as you have tweeted too when a feature of their site is not working and they have expressed they are working on a fix. Where’s the problem? Go checkout WindowsMarketplace and see how many probs they have. As a dev, been having more problems with WindowsMarket and Android than I have had with SlideME.
mambo… I am not attacking them – I am asking the question. It’s been over a week, and they haven’t updated.
The LEAST they could do would be to put a notice up – instead of returning an empty page for the web version.
And as for SAM – that’s great that you get results. On my phone, on launch – I get another blank screen.
What else am I meant to take away from this? … to me – SlideME is offline.
You ask where the problem is? The problem is that I have no way of getting to App’s… That’s what SlideME is for – downloading App’s… if I can’t get them from the web interface, and I can’t get them from SAM, then it’s offline.
What does the Microsoft Windows Marketplace have to do with this?
Nowhere in my post have I attacked or belittled the work that SlideME does. In fact – I present it as a great alternative to the Google solution.
I will update my post when SlideME comes back online, or when they provide a more friendly message to those using SAM or the web interface to search for and purchase App’s.
mambo – in the interest of disclosure – what is your relation to the SlideME project?