Google Play, formerly known as the Android Market, is a
digital
application
distribution platform for
Android and an
online electronics store developed and maintained by
Google.
The service allows users to browse and download music, magazines, books,
movies, television programs, and applications published through Google.
Users can also purchase
Chromebooks and
Google Nexus-branded mobile devices through Google Play.
Applications are available either for free or at a cost. They can be
downloaded directly to an Android or
Google TV device through the Play Store mobile app, or by
deploying the application to a device from the Google Play website.[1]
These applications are generally targeted to users based on a particular
hardware attribute of their device, such as a motion sensor (for
motion-dependent games) or a front-facing camera (for online video
calling).
On March 6, 2012, with the merging of the Android Market and Google
Music, the service was renamed Google Play to coincide with the
rebranding of Google's digital distribution strategy.[2]
Catalog content
Play Music
On November 16, 2011, Google introduced Google Music with a music
store,
Google+ integration, artist hubs, and purchasing reflected on
T-Mobile phone bills.[3]
The three major label partnerships announced were with
Universal Music Group,
EMI, and
Sony Music Entertainment, along with other smaller labels. To
celebrate the launch, several artists released free songs and exclusive
albums through the store.
The Rolling Stones debuted the live recording
Brussels Affair (Live 1973) and
Pearl
Jam made available a live concert recorded in Toronto on the tenth
anniversary of the
September 11 attacks as
9.11.2011 Toronto, Canada.[4]
A cloud media player was first hinted at the Google 2010 I/O
Conference, where Google Senior Vice-President of Social
Vic Gundotra showed a "Music" section of the Android Market that
would allow users to download music through the market.[5]
The
music streaming service was announced by Google on 10 May 2011 at
its
I/O conference as Music Beta and released as Google Music,
before the rebrand to Google Play. The service supports streaming music
to
desktop browsers, Android phones and tablets, and any other device
that can use the
Adobe Flash platform.[6]
At launch, the service was only available with an invitation and only to
US residents.[7]
In November 2011, however, it became open to the public, but still only
for US residents.[8]
According to Google, there are hundreds of free songs in Google Play
and millions available for purchase.[9]
Users can also upload up to 20,000 of their songs to the service for
free.[9]
Songs in Google Music are priced at US$1.29, $0.99, $0.69, and free.[3]
Users also get personalized recommendation based on what they listen to
the most. Music can be played on the Google Play website or on any
Android device, and can be stored for offline playback.[9]
Google also noted that "from time to time we'll be showcasing
exclusive concerts and interviews available in Google Play."[10]
The service allows the user to automatically create a
playlist of "songs that go well together"[11]
using a feature known as Instant Mix.[11][12]
Music and playlists imported to Google Play music can not alter
playlists in other music program libraries, while changes in other
applications are reflected in the Google Play music library.[13][14]
Alternative players are available for the service, for example
G-Ear on
the Mac, and
GMusic on Windows.
On October 29, 2012, Google announced Google Play in the US and
Europe would get song matching: the capability to scan a user's music
library and make available any songs which are present on Google's
servers without the need to upload them. Google also announced
partnership with
Warner Music Group, the last major music label not already presented
in Google Music.[15]
Google also announced that customers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
and the UK will be able to buy music on Google Play from November 13,
2012.[16]
Google Play Music is currently available in the United States, the
United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.[17]
It also has a client for Google Chrome.
Play Books
Google Play Books carries over 4 million titles.[18]
Purchased books are stored in the cloud and are available for both
online and offline viewing either through a web browser or in the
official apps for
Android and
iOS.
Google Play Books are currently available in Australia, Canada,
Spain, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, India, South Korea, Japan,
Mexico, Brazil, France, Russia and the United States.[19]
Play Magazines
Google Play offers the purchase of magazines in the United States,
Australia, Canada,[20]
United Kingdom,[21]
and the Russian Fedration.
Play Movies & TV
According to Google, there are thousands of Movies & Television shows
available on Google Play Movies & TV,[9]
some in HD, including comedy, drama, animation, action and documentary.[9]
Movies can be rented or purchased and watched on the Google Play website
or via an application on an Android device. Some titles are only
available for rental, some only for purchase, and others for both rental
and purchase. TV shows can be purchased by episode or season but cannot
be rented.[9]
Alternatively, users can download movies and TV shows for offline
viewing and view them later using the Google Play Movie app.[22]
Movies are available in the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada,
France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, and Spain.[23]
TV episodes and seasons are available only in the US.[23]
Applications
Google Play makes free-of-charge applications available worldwide,[24]
while paid applications are available in 129 countries.[25]
Applications can be installed from the device or the Google Play
website.[26]
According to Google there are over 700,000 titles available as of
October 2012.[9]
Google Play can update the applications the user selects automatically,
or users can update then on a per-case basis or update all applications
at once.[9]
Google Play filters the list of applications to those compatible with
the user's device. In addition, users may face further restrictions to
choice of applications where developers have tied-in their applications
to particular carriers or countries for business reasons.[27]
Carriers can also ban certain applications, for example
tethering applications.[28]
Some carriers, such as
Sprint, offer direct carrier billing for Google Play application
purchases.[29]
Purchases of unwanted applications can be refunded within
15 minutes of the time of download.[30]
There is no requirement that Android applications be acquired from
Google Play Store. Users may download Android applications from a
developer's website or through a third-party alternative to Google Play.[31]
As of 19 October 2012, developers in 32 countries were able to
distribute paid applications on Google Play.[32]
However, developers pay $25 for registration to distribute on the Google
Play Store.[33]
Application developers receive 70 percent of the application price,
while the remaining 30% goes to distribution partner and operating fees.[34]
Revenue earned from the Google Play is paid to developers via
Google Wallet merchant accounts, or via Google
AdSense
accounts in some countries.[35]
On 17 March 2009, about 2,300 applications were available in Android
Market, according to
T-Mobile
chief technical officer Cole Brodman.[36]
On 10 May 2011, during the
Google I/O, Google announced that Android Market had 200,000
applications listed and 4.5 billion applications installed.[37]
In October 2012 Google announced that Google Play had 700,000 apps
available to download, matching the number of apps in Apple's App Store.[38]
| 2009 |
March |
2,300[36] |
|
| December |
16,000[39] |
|
| 2010 |
March |
30,000[40] |
|
| April |
38,000[41] |
|
| August |
80,000[42][43] |
1 billion |
| October |
100,000[44] |
|
| 2011 |
May |
200,000[37] |
3 billion[45] |
| July |
250,000[46] |
6 billion |
| October |
319,000[47] |
|
| December |
380,297[48] |
10 billion[49] |
| 2012 |
January |
400,000[50] |
|
| February |
450,000[51] |
|
| May |
500,000[52] |
|
| June |
600,000 |
20 billion[53] |
| September |
675,000 |
25 billion[54] |
| October |
700,000[38] |
|
| 2013 |
February |
800,000[55] |
|
Devices
The Devices section of the Google Play store allows customers to
purchase
Google Nexus mobile devices. Google Play sells the
Google Nexus 4
smartphone for $300 (unlocked, without contract).[56]
At the
Google I/O Conference in June 2012, Google announced the
Nexus 7
tablet computer for $199 with 16 GB of flash storage and $249 with
32 GB of flash storage would be made available for purchase through the
devices section of the Google Play store.[57]
The Nexus 4 is currently sold in Australia, Canada, France, Germany,
Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Nexus 7 is
currently sold in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India,[58]
Japan, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The
Nexus 7 3G is currently sold in Australia, France, Germany, Spain, the
United States. The
Nexus
10 is currently sold in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan,
Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.[59]
The
Galaxy Nexus is no longer for sale in the Google Play Store after
being superseded by the Nexus 4.
Play
Store (Android App)
The Play Store, originally the Android Market, is a
digital
application
distribution platform for
Android developed and maintained by
Google.
The service allows users to browse and download music, books, magazines,
movies, television programs, and applications from Google Play.
The Android Market was rebranded as the Play Store on 6 March 2012.
The Android Market updates itself on older devices that it was installed
on to reflect the change.[62]
History
The Android Market was announced by Google on 28 August 2008, and was
made available to users on 22 October. Support for paid applications was
introduced on 13 February 2009 for developers in the United States and
the United Kingdom, with support expanded to an additional 29 countries
on 30 September 2010.[63][64]
In December 2010, content filtering was added to the Android Market and
reduced the purchase refund window from 24–48 hours to fifteen minutes.[65]
In February 2011, Google introduced a web client that provides access
to Android Market via PC. Applications requested through the Android
Market web page are downloaded and installed on a registered Android
device.[66]
In March 2011, Google added in-app billing to Android Market, allowing
apps to sell in-app products.[67]
In May 2011, Google added new application lists to Android Market,
including "Top Grossing" applications, "Top Developers", "Trending"
applications, and "Editors Recommendations". Google's Eric Chu said the
goal of this change was to expose users to as many applications as
possible.[68]
In July 2011, Google introduced a redesigned interface with a focus on
featured content, more search filters, and (in the US) book sales and
movie rentals.[69]
In September 2011, the
Motorola Xoom
tablet received an update that brought the redesigned Android Market
to an
Android 3.x Honeycomb based device.[70]
In November 2011, Google added a music store to the Android Market.[71]
In March 2012, the maximum allowed size of an application's APK file
was also increased from 50MB to allow two additional files for a maximum
of 50MB for the APK and two additional files of 2GB each, totalling
4146MB/4.05GB.[72]
On 6 March 2012, the Android Market was re-branded as Google Play.[73]
In May 2012, Google introduced in-app subscriptions to Google Play.[74]
On 12 July 2012, Google released update 3.8.15 which added Application
Encryption functionality to help reduce application piracy. Since this
update, many developers have noted compatibility issues causing various
third-party widgets and keyboards to disappear after phone reboots or
connecting to USB storage.[75]
At current, a fix is planned for a future release of Android OS.
Device
compatibility
The Google Play application is not
open source. Only Android devices that comply with Google's
compatibility requirements may install and access Google's closed-source
Google Play application, subject to entering into a free-of-charge[76]
licensing agreement with Google.[77]
In the past, these requirements had included 3G or 4G cellular data
connectivity,[78]
ruling out Android-powered devices comparable to Apple's
iPod touch, but this requirement had been loosened by the 2011
release of the
Samsung Galaxy Player.
Google Play applications are self-contained
Android Package files. Google Play does not install applications; it
asks the device's PackageManagerService to install them. The package
manager becomes visible if the user downloads an
APK file directly into their device. Applications are installed to
the phone's internal storage, and under certain conditions may be
installed to the device's external storage card.[79]
Some
tablet computers, including the
Barnes & Noble Nook and Amazon
Kindle Fire, do not provide access to Google Play, instead using
their manufacturer's
mobile content distribution site. Some owners use
Android rooting to access Google Play, or use
sideloading to load applications.[80]
App removal
Google Play features a download history allowing for users to trace
back to earlier installed apps without manually searching, and if the
app was purchased, can be re-installed at a later date without having to
re-buy it. At this time, however, there is no way to permanently delete
or remove apps downloaded from the Google Play website (My Orders/My
Android Apps).[81]
Since version 3.9.16, users are able to remove apps from the "All Apps"
list on devices only.[82]
Malicious apps
Google currently uses an in-house automated anti-virus system to
remove malicious Apps uploaded on to the marketplace called
Google Bouncer.[83]
This is meant to prevent repeat-offender developers, as well as check
for anomalies in uploaded apps. Bouncer is credited to reducing malware
by 40 percent between the first and second quarters of 2011. Lookout
Mobile Security has reported that malware resulted in a loss of US $1
million in 2011.
Hackers at
Black Hat in 2012 claimed to have found a way to circumvent the
Blocker system by creating a seemingly benign application that used a
JavaScript exploit to turn into an app capable of stealing contacts, SMS
messages, and photos.[84]
Gift cards
The rumor of Play Store gift cards started after references to it was
seen in the version 3.8.15 update to the Play Store app.[85]
Soon after images of the gift cards started to leak,[86]
and on August 21, 2012 they were made official by Google and would roll
out over the next few weeks.[87]
Google Play gift cards are currently available in the United States
and United Kingdom.[88]
Availability
Users outside the countries/regions listed below only have access to
free apps and games through Google Play.
See also