Apk files?

For the most part, any application that you download from the Market is protected so that you can't remove it from the device.

And let me get this straight, you want to take an application that somebody else wrote, be able to open it and look at the code, change the code, then use that? Ever heard of software piracy? If the developer wants you to see the code, they will upload it to the internet for downloading.

 

eclipsed4utoo,
go easy on the lad.

krazykrivda,
a couple of points for you:
-- Using a program such as ASTRO you can copy apps (the apk files) to your sdcard, which you could then copy to your pc.
-- The apk files are binaries compiled from source; they do not contain their source code. On other words, the point above is kinda moot.
-- Even if you could access the source code, that would not necessarily make you a pirate; in fact, looking at other people's code is quite educational. BUT, before you USE any code you find, I would strongly suggest you check out the licenses of those apps to ensure you don't violate your rights.

If you want to look at Android code, I would recommend looking into The Andoid Developer's Guide, in particular the Tutorials and Sample Code; or search sites like SourceForge for Android-based open source projects.

 

Hmm, I have an app for exactly that on my Palm (called Blue Fang). I wonder if Android has 'hooks' to let a background service know which apps are being launched? If so, you could implement your idea as a 3rd-party app, in the process making the idea more generic and more easily applied to any additional apps you'd like to use it with.