Macworld reports, in Google blocks paid apps for unlocked G1 users, that Google made a recent change in the capabilities of the unlocked G1 Android phone.

“People who bought an unlocked version of the Android G1 phone are no longer allowed to download new paid applications from the Market, after a change Google made late last week. Google is prohibiting users of the unlocked phones from viewing copy-protected applications, including those that cost to download.”

Gizmodo describes the reason, or a least one very plausible one.

“The problem lies in the phone’s full software permissions. Consumer Android phones download paid content to a private, hidden apps folder, inaccessible to the user. Thing is, as is stands, this normally inaccessible folder is accessible on the dev phones. Not only does this let people flat out copy and redistribute apps—it enables a sort of app laundering scam, in which someone buys an app, copies it to another location, and gets a refund for the app (as per the Marketplace’s 24-hour return policy), only to reinstall the copied version later.”

We purchased an unlocked G1 last month and are using it in several research projects. Not being able to access the paid apps should not be a showstopper, but it would be nice to try some out, so I hope a solution to this problem can be worked out soon.

My Treo 650 is long in the tooth and I’m anxious to replace it. I’d love an iPhone, but am not ready to switch service providers and am also somewhat wary about its closed nature. So an android based phone is intriguing. Now here is an interesting development: BusinessWeek reports that Motorola Readies Its Own Android Social Smartphone:

“As the wireless world awaits the Oct. 22 debut of the first phone based on the Google-backed Android software, engineers at Motorola (MOT) are hard at work on their own Android handset. Motorola’s version will boast an iPhone-like touch screen, a slide-out qwerty keyboard, and a host of social-network-friendly features, BusinessWeek.com has learned.”

This is a bit of a no-brainer and iPhone is sure to have support for social media and probably well before these Motorola phones will hit the street, which is expected to be in the second quarter of 2010. The BusinessWeek article notes that:

“In the next year, social networking phones are expected to be a hit with the 16- to 34-year-old crowd, analysts say. According to consultancy Informa (INF), the number of mobile social-networking users will rise from 2.3% of global cell-phone users at the end of 2007 to as many as 23% of all mobile users by the end of 2012.”