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Hulu Plus finally lands on the Android Market, doesn't support all devices

By | June 23, 2011, 8:05am PDT

Summary: Following Netflix’s lead, Hulu is finally available on the Android Market - sans support for a number of flagship Android devices.

When Netflix finally released an app for Android phones, it invoked the ire of many an Android user whose devices were not initially supported by the app.

And it looks like Hulu is going the same route. On Wednesday, Hulu announced that Hulu Plus, its $7.99-a-month service has finally hit the Android Market - with one main caveat: Not all Android devices will be able to run the app. The list of supported devices so far is, in a word, brief, and includes the Nexus One, Nexus S, HTC Inspire 5G, Motorola Droid, Droid X, and Atrix. That’s it. But those of you with a super fast Droid Charge or HTC Thunderbolt shouldn’t lose hope just yet. Hulu says it will be making additional device announcements as time goes on. So there’s that.

And the fragmentation train keeps on rolling.

[Android Market]

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NetFlix Inc., Android Market, Device, Telecom & Utilities, Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

Disclosure

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton has no investments that may conflict with his work with ZDNet. Similarly, he has not worked with any companies that he may write about in his technology coverage.

Biography

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications. He lives in New York, and is a graduate of Amherst College.
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Only 6? No Tablets?
rhonin 23rd Jun
Wonder what the driver is:
Version
OEM
?????

I suspect starting with v4 we will see a lot more "standardization".
Unfortunately this will make it difficult for legacy devices.....
sad
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Contributr
Don't root
JamesKendrick 23rd Jun
Don't forget that Netflix is blocking its app on rooted devices. I suspect we'll see Hulu follow suit.
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RE: Hulu Plus finally lands on the Android Market, doesn't support all devices
Hasam1991 23rd Jun
@JamesKendrick
Funny how these apps work on 'jailbroken' iphones..
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And it was very generous from Ricardo to talk about not supporting "all ...
DeRSSS Updated - 23rd Jun
@Hasam1991: ... devices", while it would be more fair to tell it outright -- that among hundreds types of devices, only six are supported.
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Dude... you have to have a Dell
Robert Hahn 23rd Jun
This kind of stuff can kill Android. Consumers aren't going to make lists of which apps run on which devices. They are going to hear that "Hulu [or Netflix] runs on my Droid," run out and sign a two-year deal on something they think is a "Droid," and then turn into a very unhappy customer when it doesn't work.

The sort of people who work in Best Buys and Verizon stores aren't going to know this stuff either -- especially since it's going to change every week -- so they won't be much help in preventing it.
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RE: Hulu Plus finally lands on the Android Market, doesn't support all devices
mobile_manny 23rd Jun
I wouldn't worry about the rooted devices, caveat emptor that those who mess with a device get what they are looking for (like the iPhone apps I hosed by going to iOS 5 ... which btw is many).

I would worry about the notion that there are a lot of apps that don't work on certain devices/OS flavors. This is a big buzz kill. An average consumer won't say that this or that app doesn't work ... they will say that their phone doesn't work. This is the complaint I hear from Android users before they switch to iPhone.

This is especially true for paid apps.

I think the Apple model of protecting the marketplace while intellectually inconvenient, does help here. It could also be the sheer number of devices, there is no way development teams can adequately test every device/OS combo on Android ... there are just too many.

I wish Google would step up and offer/enforce some set of interoperability standards that dev's could code to. This would help everyone out in the long run.
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Apple model suffers too.....
rhonin 23rd Jun
@mobile_manny
While that may appear true for Apple, having an iPad, iPad2, 3G, 3GS and 4 in my household, It is very surprising the number of apps that will not run on prior or preceding generation devices.

It claims compatible (ex: Infinity Blade, iPad2 yes, iPad no) but the physical limitations (ie: memory) cause the app to quickly fail.

Seeing this on an increasing number of apps.
sad
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It is funny
ArtInvent 23rd Jun
how every little issue pertaining to Android's flood of devices leads to the inevitable conclusion that 'stuff like this is going to kill Android.' It reminds me of the line by Yogi Berra about a popular nightspot. 'Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
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RE: Hulu Plus finally lands on the Android Market, doesn't support all devices
Hasam1991 23rd Jun
@ArtInvent
Not going to kill it but it is frustrating if you are the user who can't use an app or if your app constantly crashes... trust me it happens a lot, people return Android phones daily becuase they coulndn't use an app.
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Only 6? No Tablets?
rhonin 23rd Jun
Wonder what the driver is:
Version
OEM
?????

I suspect starting with v4 we will see a lot more "standardization".
Unfortunately this will make it difficult for legacy devices.....
sad

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