Instagram, the popular photo filtering and sharing app is coming to Google’s mobile operating system, Android.
The announcement was made by Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom on Sunday at the South by Southwest conference, who commented that the Android version is “almost here.”
During his presentation, Systrom said the Instagram team has been “œworking hard on making this one of the best Android apps you‘ll ever see.“
He also said the iOS version has been downloaded more than 27 million times so far, up from 15 million users in December of last year. The app’s popularity earned it the title of Apple’s iPhone app of the year for 2011.
Naturally, this news will end months of frustration among photographers and other Instagram fans who only carry Android devices and otherwise cannot participate in what Instagram offers. However the estimated time of arrival is unknown and remains simple as “coming soon”.
While Systrom teased the version on stage, unfortunately he did not provide a demo with the Android version currently being tested in beta.
Despite the long turn-around time for Instagram‘s Android app, the company may be looking into a Windows Phone 7 version.
Stystrom also revealed that “In some ways, it‘s better than our iOS app. It‘s crazy.” He also added that the app is fast, works well on large screens and can share photos on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other networks.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Instagram is rumoured to be raising a new round of funding that could increase the valuation of the company from $25 million to $500 million. However, venture capitalists are hesitant to jump into the funding pool without first knowing what Instagram‘s financial potential as a business plan has yet to be figured out.
Source: Mashable, The Huffington Post
