19 July 2014 / Tech Crunch – Popular bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain.info is releasing a major new version of its Android app, allowing you to store, receive and send bitcoins directly from your Android phone. The key thinking behind the update is to make bitcoin more accessible. It hides the complexity of the protocol in order to encourage mainstream user adoption.
“Our Android app has to do with making bitcoin so easy to use that people don’t even have to think about addresses for example,” co-founder and CEO Nicolas Cary told me in a phone interview. “That stuff exists in bitcoin, but just like there are complicated things happening in email, they are hidden.”
So here’s what you can expect from the new app. If you want to send bitcoins to someone, you can just browse your address book and tap on someone’s name. After that, there are two possibilities. If this person is already a bitcoin user with an associated bitcoin address, it will simply send the bitcoins. If it’s someone new, it will send an email with a redemption code so that they can get their money.
Also coming with today’s update, there is a map view of with merchants who accept bitcoins. “It’s a world’s first,” Cary said. “We verified every single one of these merchants and we’re bringing new ones every week.”
Finally, there are a lot of education features. When you create a wallet, Blockchain will help you understand how to manage your bitcoins. It will tell you to set a very strong password and two-factor authentication, it will suggests backup solutions, and it will show you tutorial videos….. Read more
