PokerStars launches real-money Android app
App only available for Android devices in Italy, first market in which operator has released real-money mobile applications.
PokerStars has released its first real-money Android mobile application less than a month after the launch of its iPhone and iPad apps, eGaming Review can reveal.
The app is now available for Android devices in Italy, the first market in which the operator has released real-money mobile applications. It launched its first iPhone and iPad real-money app on 11 January this year following on from its first ever mobile play-for-fun poker client in November last year on the Italian Apple app Store.
The Isle of Man operator plans to roll out similar real-money apps later this year in regulated and newly regulated and regulating markets with the UK and France followed by Denmark and Spain said to be next.
Last month eGR first reported that an Android version of the app was likely to be released soon following the likes of bwin and Pokertube’s Speed Poker. Android apps differ from iPhone applications which have to go through the Apple approval process. PokerStars will be able to distribute its Android application directly from its own site with Android users able to switch on or off the ability to use the application anywhere in the world.
Information on its pokerstarsmobile.it site this morning said: “The PokerStars Mobile Poker App is now available for Android devices, allowing you to play mobile poker with the full PokerStars.it player pool.
“You get the industry-leading poker features you’ve come to expect from the world’s largest poker site “ all optimized for your Android device. Are you ready to play poker on the move? Then start playing PokerStars Mobile Poker, and get in the game anywhere, anytime,” it added.
Global sales of Google Android phones have soared in the last year, however the launch of the iPhone 4S has driven significant growth for Apple in the US in particular. According to research firm NPD Group, sales of Android smartphones fell from 60% in the third quarter of last year to 47% during the October and November, while sales of the iPhone rose from 26% to 43%.