Did Flickr essentially release an Instagram clone? And if so, is there something wrong with that? Considering imitation is the highest from of flattery, and Flickr’s undeniable popularity, copying such a popular app, especially one that focuses on images — Flickr’s lifeblood — only makes sense.

The Flickr Android app promises photo sharing, filter enhancement, and the ability to share these creations across multiple social network platforms, which is pretty much what Instagram does for the iPhone crowd. The Android app shared its debut with another Flickr launch, a service called Photo Session. According to the Flickr blog, Photo Session allows users to:

… flip through photos with your friends from anywhere in the world. Just create a Photo Session, invite your friends and browse photos together in real-time. When you move to the next photo it moves for everyone else too. While you’re all browsing, have fun chatting and drawing on your photos using the built-in tools.

Unlike the Instagram imitation, Photo Session is supported by the iOS family, so you can use it on your iPhone and iPad. There’s a video of Photo Session in action, and it too takes some cues from Instagram, especially with the filters and the sharing:

The difference being, Photo Session is more like a Google Hangout, while the Flickr Android app is more a direct descendant of the Instagram application. Is that, however, a bad thing? Or is the iPhone family the only device that should be allowed such capabilities, especially if the Instagram developers show no interest in cross-platforming their application? Over at International Business Times, one idea was offered about the Android app:

While Flickr boasts 68 million registered users of its own, the platform is likely jealous of Instagram, which has amassed a whopping 10 million users in less than a year since launching.

Is it really jealously that led to the development of the similar application, or did Flickr simply fill a hole the Instagram makers were unwilling or unable to do? Sure, the app comparisons are valid, but if the demand for the application on the Android environment is there, and no one has stepped up to meet it, it sounds like Flickr merely struck while the iron was hot.

Kudos to them for stepping up where Instagram did not. The next question is, will the Flickr Android app be as popular as its iPhone predecessor?