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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 catch 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 voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
in collaboration with Google, on
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,
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, in December 2011. The store is themed heavily in green, featuring several Android "green robot" sculptures. In the store, Telstra provides visitors with an interactive spaceship zone that features a flight simulator (via the
Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
software, a
Liquid Galaxy The Liquid Galaxy is an open source project founded by Google. Created in 2008 by Google employee Jason Holt, the Liquid Galaxy started out as a panoramic multi-display Google Earth viewer, but has evolved to become a general data visualization ...
set-up), also including a massive screen on which visitors can play
Angry Birds ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...
. It features 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."


Reception

Logan Booker, writing for
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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 offere ...
s gives the shop-within-a-shop a corporate
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feel." The Telstra press release stated Androidland was a temporary installation but also noted the possibility of the installation to expand through other Telstra stores in Australia based on customer feedback.


References

{{Android, state=collapsed Android (operating system) Google real estate Telstra