Hey Android users — Are you seething with jealousy over all the little hipster pictures your iOS-wielding friends are taking with their Instagram app? You have a little bit more time to rage, but not much… hopefully. Instagram has officially opened up a sign-up page for those looking to be, "the first in line for Instagram on Android."
Unfortunately, that still doesn't give anyone an idea of when the Android version of the 27-million-user-strong photo application might officially hit the Android Market. And it doesn't appear that Instagram's sign-up page for interested Android users is going to give anyone early access per se; the page is likely just a way to collect email addresses, which Instagram will then blast with a message once its Android app goes live.
On the plus side, Instagram's debut on Android might very well turn the tables on the jealous feelings radiating from Android owners toward their iOS friends. And Android's user base has Instagram's founders to thank for that — earlier this month, at a presentation given at the South by Southwest conference, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger commented that Instagram's Android app was "better than our iOS app" in a few areas.
"It's crazy," Systrom added.
What are the areas they're referring to? No idea. Why has it taken Instagram so long to reach Android, given that the app itself debuted on iOS in October of 2010?
"I don't think it took us so long. We just had priorities," said Systrom at South by Southwest. "Had we tried to be both on Android and iPhone at the same time, it would've been tough to innovate in the way that we have."
Instagram actually started out as a spin-off from a location-sharing app that Systrom and Krieger were first working on. While we'll never know whether "Burbn" could have stacked up against Foursquare, Facebook, and all the other various location check-in services in today's mobile world, the app did clue Systrom and Krieger into another possible avenue for app exploration: photos.
Systrom and Krieger found that a number of users were sharing a not-so-insignificant amount of photos using Burbun. They quickly surmised that they could build a camera app that integrates a number of ways to share images across the social Web — and Instagram was born.
The venture-backed Instagram will eventually need to find some way to monetize its app — currently free for downloading and free of advertising. Perhaps once the app blows the roof off its user base with its big Android debut, Instagram's team will then spend a little more time thinking about how it can convert popularity to dollars.