Silicon Valley-based application maker BlueStacks recently reported passing the 5 million installs point on both Windows and Mac platforms, 9To5Mac reported. BlueStacks just released the latest version of its mobile app player, which allows Mac users to run almost any Android app on their notebook.
“BlueStacks is today releasing a free version of its mobile app player on Macs, which lets Mac users download and install every Android app on the Google Play store,” contributor Devindra Hardawar reported for VentureBeat on December 27. “A previous version of BlueStacks for Macs only ran a few preinstalled Android apps.”
BlueStacks' technology essentially virtualizes Android so that it runs the platform's mobile applications in a way that is comparable to how VMWare allows users to run a virtualized version of desktop operating systems, VentureBeat stated. The BlueStacks application can be particularly useful if a Mac user needs to run an app that doesn't have an existing desktop equivalent. Hardawar offered the example of Instagram, which currently can't be accessed except from an iOS or Android device.
Curious Apple device users can find free, downloadable beta versions of the BlueStacks software for Mac and Windows on the company's website. And if an especially bad Instagram pic shatters your laptop screen, iResQ's MacBook repair services can make you machine as good as new.