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I would like to buy a game (well several copies of it really) for some of my friends for Christmas. Is there any way to do this? Would I have to rely on the publisher, or is there some way to "gift" apps from the market?

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As far as I know, there is no way to currently do this with the Android Market. They're missing a business opportunity here. I can't speak to other app stores, but even if they do have such a feature your friends would need to know how to side-load apk files. – Al Everett Dec 23 '10 at 4:59
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@Al: I concur, but I think you should add "Buy, send & side load" as an answer because it is a legit way to accomplish what he's asking and as far as I can see its the only way. – Matt Dec 23 '10 at 18:09

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up vote 9 down vote accepted

Amazon has released their own Android Appstore which allow you to send giftcards that are redeemable for Android Apps. This requires a few extra steps, but should let you gift what you want to until this function gets added to the original Android Market.

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Do not use URL shorteners on this site, especially those that are to affiliate links. – Al Everett Mar 25 '11 at 12:30
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@al-everett Won't happen again. – thunsaker Mar 25 '11 at 16:00
up vote 24 down vote

There is a feature request on Android's bug tracker for this. If you're intent on seeing this feature, click on the star.

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