Instagram expands to Android, tops 1M downloads in first day

April 4, 2012 | By Jason Ankeny

Instagram introduced its long-awaited photo sharing application for devices running Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system, generating more than a million downloads in less than 24 hours according to statistics published on the Google Play storefront.

Instagram is available for phones running Android 2.2 or above.

The free Instagram app, available for phones running Android 2.2 or above with support for OpenGL ES 2.2, features the same imaging filters and community features as the original version for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS platform. Users can snap and manipulate photos, upload their work to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and foursquare, and post likes and comments.

More than 30 million registered Instagram users on iOS upload more than 5 million photos every day. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom first announced the company's plans to roll out an Android version late last year--in the weeks since, more than 430,000 Android users signed up for the company's waiting list.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Instagram is poised to raise about $40 million in financing, vaulting the company's valuation to as much as $500 million--roughly 20 times what it was worth just a year ago. During a subsequent appearance at Federated Media's Signal conference, Systrom suggested Instagram is preparing to roll out advertising services, a move to answer investor questions about how the company will build a sustainable revenue model around the free app.

For more:
- read this Instagram blog entry