BlueStacks has released a public alpha test version of its App Player for OS X at the Google I/O conference. The product was originally announced as a beta release for Windows users in March, allowing users to run any Android app without modification. The current attempt to extend this functionality to Mac OS X users is more limited in scope in that it only supports 17 Android apps that get installed with the program. These titles include Air Control Lite, Alchemy, Basketball Shot, Drag Racing, Elastic World, Facebook, Glow Hockey, Guns’n’Glory, Paper Toss, Pulse, Robo Defense, Seesmic, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Zebra Paint.
The support page for BlueStacks promises full support for the “over 400,00 Android apps” on the market in the near future, and the limited version announced is a free download and available right now. So, it only costs a little bit of your spare time to give it a try.
Perhaps the biggest question generated by this application is “Why?” After all, bringing apps designed to work on a small touchscreen to a computer using a keyboard and mouse as input devices doesn’t seem practical. Already, some users report they’re pleased that they can now run WhatsApp on OS X, because it allows messaging to Android phone users and the ability to receive text messages right from the computer. This move can also open up a few new possibilities for cross-platform gaming. BlueStacks CEO, Rosen Sharma, hopes the software will encourage developers to build retina-display friendly apps for Android, which could then be marketed to MacBook Pro owners.
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