Waiting for word from Google, some Android app developers go it alone

With T-Mobile's G1 launch set for Wednesday, Android developers such as Wrike and Intermedia were still in the dark on Tuesday night about the status of Google's online Android Market.

A pair of Android developers, Wrike and Intermedia, plan to offer their ContactsSync application for Exchange/Outlook synchronization on their own site -- and, if possible, on Google's Android Market, too.

"The application is now available at http://www.wrike.com/gl-exchange-sync.html and hopefully, will be additionally offered at the Android Market," Valerie Sinitskaya, marketing communications manager for Wrike, told BetaNews Tuesday afternoon.

As of a few hours later, however, Write and Intermedia still hadn't heard from Google as to whether and when ContactsSync will become downloadable from Android Market.

"I would be happy to clarify the situation with [Android] Market. However, we do not have certain information by now," Sinitskaya wrote, in a follow-up e-mail to BetaNews.

Wrike, a major developer of hosted productivity apps, and Intermedia, a business e-mail hoster, decided to develop the Exchange/Outlook synchronization app for Android when they were talking about new ways to approach business productivity, according to Sinitskaya.

"A G1 application for for Exchange users looked like a great first step. Write was already working on various synchronization and mobile applications, while Intermedia [had] expertise in Exchange," BetaNews was told.

Meanwhile, the Android Community message board buzzed with rumors that Google's planned 50-or-so applications might not be ready in time for T-Mobile's G1 launch on Wednesday, and with reports that most of the intended apps had been taken down over the past couple of days.

Users said they weren't sure why the apps had been removed, which criteria had been used, or when the missing apps will be returned to Android Market.

Although the 13 available apps were named on the message board, most of those removed from the Market were not identified, with a few exceptions, such as ShopSavvy, one of three apps widely demo'd by T-Mobile and Google throughout the G1 pre-launch phase.

Many T-Mobile users who pre-ordered Android-based phones had already received the devices by Monday or Tuesday -- but while the G1 was still reportedly sold out, The Motley Fool retracted a widely circulated report that the number of G1 pre-orders had tallied 1.5 million.