Flipboard finally makes its way to Android phones, still no tablet support

Flipboard, the app that turns your tired old RSS feeds and social streams into a slick digital magazine layout, is finally coming to Google Android platform with a brand new phone application, the startup announced today.

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The Flipboard service initially gained its fame through its iPad app, and later on the iPhone. And in addition to its launch on Android phones, the startup has been quite busy. Friday, the app developers announced major support for Apple’s chief competitor, Google in the form of new content streams for Google+ and YouTube.

However, don’t expect to find Flipboard ported over to an Android-powered tablet anytime soon.

“As far as tablets go, the biggest player is the iPad,” Flipboard marketing exec Marci McCue tells GigaOM. “We’ll watch the market but right now the market is the iPad,” she adds. Even without a version for tablets based on Android, today’s news is significant because a major developer is lending its prestige to the Google’s iPhone alternative.

Flipboard, which Apple named the App of the Year in 2010, is now available in the Google Play Store, the Mountain View, Calif. Internet giant’s version of Cupertino’s App Store. Another big plus of having Flipboard on Android phones is that It’ll help promote the search giant’s efforts to sell more of its latest “flagship” phone the Samsung Galaxy S III.  Flipboard will actually be pre-installed on the device by carriers, which should give it some added oomph and it competes with its many competitor,  the  iPhone.

Along with aiding the spread of Android, Flipboard’s entry into the Googlesphere will also fuel growth of two other properties that were at risk of being overshadowed. Google+, an alternative to Facebook’s all-present social networking, will be integrated into Flipboard.

“Now you can connect your Google+ account to Flipboard and see all the activity in your Circles in a beautiful magazine format,” the wrote in a blog post. App users can “+1” any post within Flipboard, as well as share, comment and reply directly from the digital magazine app.

Also, YouTube, is also available to embed within the app in the same magazine-like treatment it available for Google+

Flipboard also announced it will be speaking more than English, with translations and regional recommendations for users in Germany, Italy, Korea, The Netherlands and Spain.

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