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Google Play
Original author(s)Google
Developer(s)Google
Initial release23 October 2008
Stable release
Android40.4.31 / April 5, 2024; 6 months ago (2024-04-05)[1]
Android TV40.4.20 / April 5, 2024; 6 months ago (2024-04-05)[2]
Wear OS40.2.18 / March 24, 2024; 7 months ago (2024-03-24)[3]
PlatformAndroid
TypeDigital distribution
Websiteplay.google.com

Google Play, originally the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated by Google. It opened on 23 October 2008, and provides an online store for music, movies, books, magazines, and Android applications, as well as an online music player. The service is accessible through the internet and the Play Store mobile app, included with most Android and Google TV devices.[4][5]

On Thursday 6 March 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.[6]

Catalog content

Music

File:Google Play Music icon.png
Google Play Music

On 16 November 2011, Google introduced Google Music with a music store, Google+ integration, artist hubs, and purchasing reflected on T-Mobile phone bills.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10] At launch, the service was available through invitation to US residents only.[11] In November 2011, however, it is open to the public, but still only for US residents.[12]

According to Google, there are hundreds of free songs in Google Play and millions available for purchase.[13] Users can also upload up to 20,000 of their songs to the service for free.[13] Songs in Google Music are priced at US$1.29, $0.99, $0.69, and free.[7] 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.[13]

Google also noted that "from time to time we'll be showcasing exclusive concerts and interviews available in Google Play."[14]

The service allows the user to automatically create a playlist of "songs that go well together"[15] using a feature known as Instant Mix.[15][16] 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.[17][18]

There are also alternative players available for the service, for example G-Ear on the Mac, and GMusic on Windows.

Books

File:Google Play Books icon.png
Google Play Books

According to Google, there are over four million ebooks on Google Play,[19] "over 4 million" are free and there are "hundreds of thousands" available for purchase.[19] Books can be read online at the Google Play website, or offline, via the Android application.[13]

Google Play Books are available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia[20] Spain[21], Japan[22], France and South Korea.

Google Play also offers the purchase of magazines in the United States and Australia.[23]

Movies & TV

File:Google Play Movies icon.png
Google Play Movies & TV

According to Google, there are thousands of movies & TV shows available on Google Play Movies & TV,[13] some in HD, including comedy, drama, animation, action and documentary.[13] Movies can be rented or purchased and watched on the Google Play website or via an application on an Android device. Television shows can be purchased by episode or season.[13] Alternatively, users can download movies and TV shows for offline viewing and view them later using the Google Play Movie app.[24]

Movies are available in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Spain,Germany, France and South Korea.[20]

Applications

File:Google Play Apps icon.png
Google Play Apps

Google Play makes free-of-charge applications available worldwide except in Iran,[25] while paid applications are available in 129 countries.[26] Applications can be installed from the device or the Google Play website.[27] According to Google there were over 450,000 titles available as of March 2012.[13] 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.[13]

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.[28] Carriers can also ban certain applications, for example tethering applications.[29]

Some carriers offer direct carrier billing for Android Market application purchases.[30] Purchases of unwanted applications can be refunded within 15 minutes of the time of download.[31] There is no requirement that Android applications be acquired from Android Market. Users may download Android applications from a developer's website or through a third-party alternative to Android Market.[32]

As of 19 October 2012, developers in 32 countries were able to distribute paid applications on Google Play.[33] However, developers pay $25 for registration to distribute on the Android Market.[34] Application developers receive 70 percent of the application price, while the remaining 30% goes to distribution partner and operating fees.[35] Revenue earned from the Android Market is paid to developers via Google Checkout merchant accounts, or via Google AdSense accounts in some countries.[36]

On 17 March 2009, about 2,300 applications were available in Android Market, according to T-Mobile chief technical officer Cole Brodman.[37] 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.[38]

Year Month Applications available Downloads to date
2009 March 2,300[37]
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[38] 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 650,000[citation needed] 20 billion[53]
September 675,000[54] 25 billion[54]

Other

Google Play sells the Galaxy Nexus smartphone for $349 (unlocked, without contract.)[55] It is currently being sold in the United States and the United Kingdom, though the company plans to eventually sell it in other countries. At the Google IO Conference in June 2012, Google announced the Nexus 7 tablet computer for $199 with 8 GB of flash storage and $249 with 16 GB of flash storage, as well as the Nexus Q media streaming entertainment device for $299. These items, and accessories for them, were also made available for purchase through the devices section of the Google Play store.[56]

Play Store

Play Store
Original author(s)Google
Developer(s)Google
Initial release22 October 2008
Stable release
3.9.16 [57] / October 11, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-10-11)
Operating systemAndroid
TypeDigital distribution
Websiteplay.google.com Edit this on Wikidata

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.[58]

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.[59][60] In December 2010, content filtering was added to the Android Market and reduced the purchase refund window from 24–48 hours to fifteen minutes.[61]

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.[62] In March 2011, Google added in-app billing to Android Market, allowing apps to sell in-app products.[63] 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.[64] 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.[65] In September 2011, the Motorola Xoom tablet received an update that brought the redesigned Android Market to an Android 3.x Honeycomb based device.[66] In November 2011, Google added a music store to the Android Market.[67]

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.[68] On 6 March 2012, the Android Market was re-branded as Google Play.[69] In May 2012, Google introduced in-app subscriptions to Google Play.[70] 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 3rd party widgets and keyboards to disappear after phone reboots or connecting to USB storage.[71] 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[72] licensing agreement with Google.[73] In the past, these requirements had included 3G or 4G cellular data connectivity,[74] 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.[75]

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 Google Play content. In contrast, Google Play carries apps for simple, direct access to Kindle and Nook content.

Rooted devices have the option of changing their DPI (pixel Density Per Inch, which changes the display of the phone. Changing a device's DPI can mess with app compatibility settings on Google Play. To get around this you can install a hacked version of the Play Store from XDA. [76]

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).[77] The latest app update (3.9.16) however, allows users to remove apps from the "All Apps" list on devices only.[78]

Malicious apps

Google currently uses an in-house automated anti-virus system to remove malicious Apps uploaded on to the marketplace called Google Bouncer.[79] 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.[80]

See also

References

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