Google play
Google Play (previously Android Market) is adigital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the officialapp store for the Android operating system, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit (SDK) and published through Google. Google Play also serves as a digital media store, offering music, magazines, books, movies, and television programs. It previously offered Google hardware devices for purchase until the introduction of a separate online hardware retailer, Google Store, on March 11, 2015.
Applications are available through Google Play either free of charge or at a cost. They can be downloaded directly on an Android device through the Play Store mobile app or by deploying the application to a device from the Google Play website. Applications exploiting hardware capabilities of a device can be targeted to users of devices with specific hardware components, such as a motion sensor (for motion-dependent games) or a front-facing camera (for online video calling). The Google Play store had over 82 billion app downloads in 2016 and has reached over 3.5 million apps published in 2017.[4] It has been the subject of multiple issues concerning security, in which malicious software has been approved and uploaded to the store and downloaded by users, with varying degrees of severity.
Google Play was launched on March 6, 2012, bringing together the Android Market, Google Music, and the Google eBookstore under one brand, marking a shift in Google's digital distribution strategy. The services operating under the Google Play banner are: Google Play Books, Google Play Games, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, Google Play Newsstand, and Google Play Console. Following their re-branding, Google has gradually expanded the geographical support for each of the services.
Catalog content
Android applications
Global availability of Google Play
As of 2017, Google Play features over 3.5 million Android applications.[4][5] Users in over 145 countries can purchase apps, although Google notes on its support pages that "Paid content may not be available in some provinces or territories, even if the governing country is listed above."[6]Developers in over 150 locations can distribute apps on Google Play, though not every location supports merchant registration.[7] To distribute apps, developers have to pay a one-time $25 registration fee for a Google Play Developer Console account.[8]App developers can control which countries an app is distributed to, as well as the pricing for the app and in-app purchases in each country.[9][10] Developers receive 70% of the application price, while the remaining 30% goes to the distribution partner and operating fees.[11] Developers can set up sales, with the original price struck out and a banner underneath informing users when the sale ends.[12][13][14] Google Play allows developers to release early versions of apps to a select group of users, as alpha or beta tests.[15]Developers can also release apps through staged rollouts, in which "your update reaches only a percentage of your users, which you can increase over time."[16] Users can pre-order select apps (as well as movies, music, books, and games) to have the items delivered as soon as they are available.[17]Some network carriers offer billing for Google Play purchases, allowing users to opt for charges in the monthly phone bill rather than on credit cards.[18] Users can request refunds within 48 hours after a purchase if "something you bought isn't working, isn't what you expected, was bought by accident, or you changed your mind about the purchase".[19]Apps meeting specific usability requirements can qualify as a Wear OS app.[20]
Play Games
Google Play Games is an online gamingservice for Android that features real-timemultiplayer gaming capabilities, cloud saves, social and public leaderboards, andachievements. The service was introduced at the Google I/O 2013 Developer Conference,[21]and the standalone mobile app was launched on July 24, 2013.[22]
Music
Global availability of Google Play Music
Google Play Music is a music and podcaststreaming service and online music locker. It features over 40 million songs,[23] and gives users free cloud storage of up to 50,000 songs.[24]
As of May 2017, Google Play Music is available in 64 countries.[25]
Books
Google Play Books is an ebook digital distribution service. Google Play offers over five million ebooks available for purchase,[26]and users can also upload up to 1,000 of their own ebooks in the form of PDF or EPUB file formats.[27] As of January 2017, Google Play Books is available in 75 countries.[25] Google's Play Store now includes audiobooks. You can listen to your favorite books with a real person's storytelling, not by voice synthesis. Some books are narrated by their authors. With a large selection of books currently available in 45 countries.[28]
Movies and TV shows
Google Play Movies & TV is a video on demand service offering movies and television shows available for purchase or rental, depending on availability.[29]
As of January 2017, movies are available in over 110 countries, while TV shows are available only in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom.[25]
News publications and magazines
Google Play Newsstand is a news aggregatorand digital newsstand service offering subscriptions to digital magazines and topical news feeds.[30][31]
As of January 2017, the basic Newsstand service, with topical news feeds, is available worldwide. Paid Newsstand content is available in over 35 countries.[25]
Devices
Google Play, before March 2015, had a Devices section for users to purchase Google Nexus devices, Chromebooks, Chromecasts, other Google-branded hardware, and accessories. A separate online hardware retailer called the Google Store was introduced on March 11, 2015, replacing the Devices section of Google Play.[32][33]
History
Google Play originated from three distinct products: Android Market, Google Music and Google eBookstore.
The Android Market was announced by Google on August 28, 2008,[34][35] and was made available to users on October 22.[36][37]In December 2010, content filtering was added to the Android Market, each app's details page started showing a promotional graphic at the top, and the maximum size of an app was raised from 25 megabytes to 50 megabytes.[38][39][40] The Google eBookstore was launched on December 6, 2010, debuting with three million ebooks, making it "the largest ebooks collection in the world".[41] In November 2011, Google announced Google Music, a section of the Play Store offering music purchases.[42][43] In March 2012, Google increased the maximum allowed size of an app by allowing developers to attach two expansion files to an app's basic download; each expansion file with a maximum size of 2 gigabytes, giving app developers a total of 4 gigabytes.[44][45] Also in March, the Android Market was re-branded as Google Play.[46][47][48]
User interface
Apart from searching for content by name, apps can also be searched through keywords provided by the developer.[51] When searching for apps, users can press on suggested search filters, helping them to find apps matching the determined filters.[52] For the discoverability of apps, Play Store consists of lists featuring top apps in each category, including "Top Free", a list of the most popular free apps of all time; "Top Paid", a list of the most popular paid apps of all time; "Top Grossing", a list of apps generating the highest amounts of revenue; "Trending Apps", a list of apps with recent installation growth; "Top New Free", a list of the most popular new free apps; "Top New Paid", a list of the most popular new paid apps; "Featured", a list of new apps selected by the Google Play team; "Staff Picks", a frequently-updated list of apps selected by the Google Play team; "Editors' Choice", a list of apps considered the best of all time; and "Top Developer", a list of apps made by developers considered the best.[53] In March 2017, Google added a "Free App of the Week" section, offering one normally-paid app for free.[54][55] In July 2017, Google expanded its "Editors' Choice" section to feature curated lists of apps deemed to provide good Android experiences within overall themes, such as fitness, video calling and puzzle games.[56][57]
Google Play enables users to know the popularity of apps, by displaying the number of times the app has been downloaded. The download count is a color-coded badge, with special color designations for surpassing certain app download milestones, including grey for 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 downloads, blue for 10,000 and 50,000 downloads, green for 100,000 and 500,000 downloads, and red/orange for 1 million, 5 million, 10 million and 1 billion downloads.[58][59]
Users can submit reviews and ratings for apps and digital content distributed through Google Play, which are displayed publicly. Ratings are based on a 5-point scale. App developers can respond to reviews[60] using the Google Play Developer Console.[61]
Design
Google has redesigned Google Play's interface on several occasions. In February 2011, Google introduced a website interfacefor then-named Android Market that provides access through a computer.[62] Applications purchased are downloaded and installed on an Android device remotely, with a "My Market Account" section letting users give their devices a nickname for easy recognition.[63] In May 2011, Google added new application lists to Android Market, including "Top Paid", "Top Free", "Editor's Choice", "Top Grossing", "Top Developers", and "Trending".[64][65] In July, Google introduced an interface with a focus on featured content, more search filters, and (in the US) book sales and movie rentals.[66] In May 2013, a redesign to the website interfacematched the then-recently redesigned Android app.[67] In July 2014, the Play Store Android app added new headers to the Books/Movies sections, a new Additional Information screen offering a list featuring the latest available app version, installed size, and content rating, and simplified the app permissions prompt into overview categories.[68] A few days later, it got a redesign consistent with the then-newMaterial Design design language,[69][70] and the app was again updated in October 2015 to feature new animations, divide up the content into "Apps and Games" and "Entertainment" sections, as well as added support for languages read right-to-left.[71][72][73] In April 2016, Google announced a redesign of all the icons used for its suite of Play apps, adding a similar style and consistent look.[74][75] In May 2017, Google removed the shopping bag from the Google Play icon, with only the triangle and associated colors remaining.[76][77] In March 2018, Google experimented by changing the format of the screenshots used for the App pages from the WebP format to PNG but reverted the change after it caused the images to load slower. The update also saw small UI tweaks to the Google Play Store site with the reviews section now opening to a dedicated page and larger images in the light box viewer.[78][79]
App monetization
Google states in its Developer Policy Center that "Google Play supports a variety of monetization strategies to benefit developers and users, including paid distribution, in-app products, subscriptions, and ad-based models", and requires developers to comply with the policies in order to "ensure the best user experience". It requires that developers charging for apps and downloads through Google Play must use Google Play's payment system. In-app purchases unlocking additional app functionality must also use the Google Play payment system, except in cases where the purchase "is solely for physical products" or "is for digital content that may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g. songs that can be played on other music players)."[80] Support for paid applications was introduced on February 13, 2009 for developers in the United States and the United Kingdom,[81] with support expanded to an additional 29 countries on September 30, 2010.[82] The in-app billing system was originally introduced in March 2011.[83] All developers on Google Play are required to feature a physical address on the app's page in Google Play, a requirement established in September 2014.[84]
In February 2017, Google announced that it would let developers set sales for their apps, with the original price struck out and a banner underneath informing users when the sale ends. Google also announced that it had made changes to its algorithms to promote games based on user engagement and not just downloads. Finally, it announced new editorial pages for what it considers "optimal gaming experiences on Android", further promoting and curating games.[12][13][14]
Payment methods
Google allows users to purchase content with credit or debit cards, carrier billing, gift cards, or through PayPal.[85] Google began rolling out carrier billing for purchases in May 2012,[18][86] followed by support for PayPal in May 2014.[87][88]
Gift cards
Gift cards in a Targetstore in the United States
The rumor of Google Play gift cards started circulating online in August 2012 after references to it was discovered by Android Police in the 3.8.15 version update of the Play Store Android app.[89] Soon after, images of the gift cards started to leak,[90] and on August 21, 2012 they were made official by Google and rolled out over the next few weeks.[91][92]
Google Play gift cards are currently available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.[93]
Subscriptions
Google introduced in-app subscriptions to Google Play in May 2012.[94][95] In June 2016, some sources reported that Google announced that subscriptions charged through Google Play would now split the revenue 85/15, where developers receive 85% of revenue and Google only takes 15%, a change from the traditional 70/30 split in years prior. The move followed Apple's then-recently announced change of the same model, although commentators were quick to point out that while Apple only grants the 85/15 revenue share after one year of active subscriptions, Google's subscription change takes effect immediately.[96][97][98] As of January 1, 2018, the transaction fee for subscription products decreased to 15% for any subscribers developers retain after 12 paid months.[99] So unlike what sources were reporting, Google is using the same model as Apple with in-app subscriptions on the App Store.
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