Install an apk without starting the emulator

Question

When developing on BlackBerry or iOS, you can deploy your application just by dropping the compiled code into a special directory, and when the simulator boots up it will check that directory and install any apps that it finds there. Is this possible for Android?

The reason this feature is desirable is because my build system deploys builds nightly. I want the emulator ready to go when my QA team gets in the next morning. To do that, I have to write a script that boots up the emulator, waits for it to start up, then calls adb install and finally shuts down the emulator. It would be great if I could just drop the .apk in a directory and have it ready to go the next time QA boots up the emulator.

Edit:
Someone asked for the script I described above. It's unfortunately written in Perl, but here it is: http://pastebin.com/6UcNgYRs

Answer 1

Is this possible for Android?

No, sorry. Nice idea, though.

Answer 2

You can just tell the QA people to use the install script as the emulator itself, just remove the "close the emulator" bit.