Androidland was an Android-themed

pop-up store Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...

, created by the carrier

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

in collaboration with Google, on

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Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, in December 2011. The store was themed heavily in green, featuring several Android "green robot" sculptures. In the store, Telstra provided visitors with an interactive spaceship zone that featured a flight simulator (via the

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

software, a Liquid Galaxy set-up), and also included a massive screen on which visitors could play

Angry Birds ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment, and owned by Sega. The game series focuses on the titular flock of colorful angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Cr ...

. It further featured scented areas with gingerbread and grass aromas, called "Android grass", to further immerse visitors.

History

Androidland had been in development since July 2011. Google Australia helped to train the store's Android experts to be able to assist visitors with their current devices, help them with their new ones and recommend apps to install. Warwick Bray, the Executive Director of Telstra Mobile, stated, "Over the past 12 months we've seen a huge growth in the number of customers coming in-store and asking us about Android phones and tablets. With Androidland we wanted to create a retail environment like no other that helps us to answer customer questions in a fun, interactive way." In October 2013,

Spice Group DigiSpice (aka Spice Global) was an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Singapore. The company operates in the sectors of telecom, finance, entertainment and technology. They operate internationally in Los Angeles, New York, Kuala Lumpur, Lon ...

announced a partnership with Google to set up 50 AndroidLand stores in India along with 100 smaller versions of the stores as AndroidLand mini stores.

Reception

Logan Booker, writing for

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' () is a design, technology, science, and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the sub-blogs ''io9'' and ''Earther'', which focus on pop ...

Australia wrote, "It's a friendly environment, definitely, and if I were to make the switch to Android, I’d be sure to stop by to aid in my decision-making. The interesting fusion of business with an "experience" beyond

product demonstration In marketing, a product demonstration (or ''"demo"'' for short) is a promotion where a product is demonstrated to potential customers. The goal is to introduce customers to the product in hopes of getting them to purchase that item. Products offe ...

s gives the shop-within-a-shop a corporate

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explori ...

feel." The Telstra press release stated Androidland was a temporary installation but also noted the possibility of the installation expanding through other Telstra stores in Australia based on customer feedback.

References

{{Android, state=collapsed Android (operating system) Google buildings and structures Telstra