CYBERSPACE—Always looking for new realms to conquer, Mikandi has set its sights on Chrome with the recent beta launch of Mint List, the world's first third-party app store for Chrome. "The MiKandi Mint List is your curated hub of the best html5 porn apps including free Chrome themes and extensions and thousands of free porn videos. Discover, rate and review your favorite porn and experience only the best in adult entertainment," says the Mint List site.
According to GeekWire, however, the launch of Mint List came with some inevitable hiccups. " MiKandi soft-launched the new store in beta last week, but then a few days later, a Google update to Chrome made it difficult for third parties to deliver their own apps," wrote Taylor Soper for the site.
"Previously," he continued, "similar to the ability on Android to allow installation of apps from unknown sources outside of the Play Store, Chrome users had to run a Mint List launcher only once to allow the installation of apps, themes and extensions from the third-party Mint List store.
"But the new update eliminated this function, forcing users to approve installation of apps from unknown sources every single time they wanted to download Mint List content," he added.
MiKandi co-founder Jesse Adams told GeekWire he wasn't sure if the timing of the update was intentional or coincidental, but he did label the new rules “Apple-esque restrictions,” and added, "One thing is for certain, they are definitely making moves to stop companies from delivering their own Chrome apps."
He also mused, "I believe Google will say that the restriction is about security and protecting the user, but we’re sensing it’s more about controlling HTML5, which is weird because it should be more open than Android apps."
That said, Mikandi had a workaround in place in a New York minute that forces "users to always launch a Mint List installer before opening Chrome to enable the installation of content from the Mint List Chrome store. Once users close Chrome, they have to repeat this process to download themes, apps and extensions from Mint List."
Fortunately, Mikandi is experienced when it comes to finding creative ways to adapt to Google's unpredictable proclivities.
