Before the unified Play branding, Google had the Android Market, Google Music, and Google eBookstore. Google decided to merge and rebrand its individual digital offerings into the Play Store in March of 2012.
The Play Store is now the default place to purchase apps, movies & television, music, books, and news subscriptions for all Android devices. The latter four offerings having their individual Android and iOS apps to watch, listen, and read purchased content. Most content can also be accessed through the web.
In April of 2016, the suite of icons were redesigned in a similar style to provide a consistent look across all devices and the web.
The Google Play music store has kicked off ‘A Rock and a Hard Place’ promotion which offers rock and metal albums for as low as $3.99. There are a total of 90 discounted albums from the biggest classic rock and current metal groups: Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Five Finger Death Punch, Black Sabbath, System of a Down, and more. No word from Google on how long the promo will last so if you see an album you like be sure to grab it soon.
If manufacturers or carriers ever needed evidence that 9to5google is not alone in wishing they’d lay off the overlays, new figures suggest that overlay-killer Go Launcher EX is now the 6th most popular Android app. The app allows you to set your own customised homescreen to replace that set by the manufacturer or carrier … Expand Expanding Close
Developer of the third-party AllCast Android app, Koushik Dutta, says that Google’s latest software update for Chromecast blocks the app’s ability to stream local files to Google’s new $35 streaming device. The app had not yet made its way to Google Play, but Dutta claims (via TheVerge) that Google intentionally disabled support for AllCast in the latest Chromecast software update:
Heads up. Google’s latest Chromecast update intentionally breaks AllCast. They disabled ‘video_playback’ support from the ChromeCast application.Given that this is the second time they’ve purposefully removed/disabled[1] the ability to play media from external sources, it confirms some of my suspicions that I have had about the Chromecast developer program:
The policy seems to be a heavy handed approach, where only approved content will be played through the device. The Chromecast will probably not be indie developer friendly. The Google TV team will likely only whitelist media companies.
So far Google’s Chromecast only officially supports YouTube, Netflix, and content from Google Play, and to help it make deals with other big media companies it looks like it might have to limit access to streaming capabilities for third-party apps. The other side to that of course is that Chromecast allows users to stream a tab from the Chrome browser, which allows users to stream local content from their own devices anyway. Google hasn’t commented on the AllCast situation, but we’ll update you if we hear anything.
We noted yesterday that the release of Chrome 29 on Windows, Mac, and Linux would be followed by an update to the Chrome app for Android that brings support for the WebRTC standard and scrolling improvements. Google has just released the update on Google Play and also noted that it includes support for the WebAudio API allowing developers to “process and synthesize audio” in web apps. WebRTC support, as we’ve noted previously, is typically used by developers to implement voice calling, video chatting, and peer-to-peer file sharing in their web apps without the ned of a plugin. Google also says the update includes enhancements to “scrolling responsiveness and visual indication when reaching the end of a page.”
The updated Chrome for Android app also brings a new UI for the color picker in web forms and improved startup performance.
Google announced today on Google+ that its updating its Google Translate app for Android with additional language support for two features including camera input translation and handwriting.
New languages for camera input translation, which allows users to take translate text capture with the device’s camera, include “Afrikaans, Greek, Hebrew and Serbian.” Google notes that the update brings the total number of supported languages supported for the camera translations feature to 34.
Simply tap the camera button, point at the text you want translated and take the picture, and brush over the text you want with your finger—in an instant you’ll see your translation.
The updated app also includes support handwriting characters in two additional languages: Hindi and Thai. That brings the total number of supported languages to 48.
After hitting 5 million downloads and over 1 billion games played since launching on iOS a little over 4 months ago, betaworks-backed game “Dots” is today making its way to Android users for the time. The simplistic puzzle game, which sees users “connect as many same-colored dots” as they can during a 60 second timeframe, will be available as a free download sometime later today.
The announcement also comes with a new “moves mode” that does away with the time restriction but introduces a 30 move limit, as well as new trophies and support for a number of new languages, including: German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic.
Keep an eye on the Google Play store for the Dots game arriving any minute now.
It seems an increasing number of users have been experiencing the old “Package File Invalid” error when attempting to update or download apps from Google Play. While it’s not the first time users have experienced the issue, it does appear that more and more users in recent days have been unable to workaround the issue in order to update and download apps. Good news if you’ve been having the problem, AndroidCentral points us to a Google support thread that confirms the company is investigating the errors:
We’ve received reports that some users are getting “Package File Invalid” while trying to download or update apps.
We’re currently investigating a permanent solution, and there are no workarounds at this time.
We’ll continue to update this page with developments, so check back soon.
Google announced today that its recently launched Nexus 7 is now available to purchase in Canada through Google Play. The availability comes as the device launches in Staples, Best Buy, Future Shop and other retailers today in both the US and Canada, while the device has already been available to customers in the US through Google Play.
Up until now Samsung’s Wallet app had been in beta only for select users in the US, but today the app is officially available through Google Play. Before you get too excited, we should mention that it is still US-only, and as of right now you’ll need one of few select Samsung devices in order to take advantage. For those of you unfamiliar, the app stores boarding passes, coupons, tickets, etc, but doesn’t actually do NFC payments like Google Wallet or other solutions. It might not be as widely supported as something like Apple’s Passbook app yet, but the MLB, Booking.com and many others have signed to support the service. To take advantage you’ll need either a Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 1, or Galaxy Note 2.
On a side note, Google announced it’s ending NFC redemption for gift and loyalty cards through Google Wallet, but hinted other options for storing these types of cards might return to the app.
Google Play’s Music All Access service – Google’s rather clumsily-named equivalent to Spotify – has now been rolled out to Europe, initially to nine countries.
The service, launched in the USA in May and later extended to Australia and New Zealand, is now available in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom … Expand Expanding Close
Following Google’s release of an official AdSense Android app on Google Play last week, today the company has released an iOS version of the app. Much like the Android version, this is the first official AdSense client Google has released for the platform, and brings competition for some of the free and paid third-party clients already on the App Store. The app also provides much of the same functionality as the Android app, allowing users to access most reporting features available through the Adsense website, as well as payment alerts (which unfortunately can’t be dismissed at this point).
The AdSense app provides an easy way to access key data from your AdSense account. Access reporting features anywhere, directly from your iPhone. The first version of the app gives you access to: the key earnings information, top custom and URL channels, ad units and sites reports, payment alerts.
According to data from App Annie’s latest download and revenue report, Google Play for the first time surpassed the App Store in app downloads during the second quarter of 2013. While Google was able to move past Apple with about 10 percent more downloads during the three month period, the report notes the App Store brought in nearly 2.3x the amount of revenue.
App Annie says that Google Play’s growth was driven by emerging markets including Brazil, India, and Russia, and while the App Store still leads by revenue, Google Play closed the gap slightly compared to last quarter and years past.
Google Play saw Brazil climb two spots to join India and Russia as another emerging market in the top 5 countries by downloads for Q2 2013…The United States, Japan and United Kingdom remained the leaders in the iOS App Store when looking at revenue generation, and Australia climbed to #4 after a strong Q2. iOS App Store revenue was driven primarily by the United States and Japan, which combined to account for about half of the total iOS App Store revenue in Q2.
App Annie’s report also includes its Games Index tracking mobile games on iOS and Android, which now account for around 40 percent of all downloads on both platforms. During Q2, Gameloft’s Despicable Me: Minion Rush grabbed the top spot for most downloaded iOS game, while publisher Tiny Piece took the honor on Google Play.
As for non-gaming apps, Vine increased by three positions to become the most downloaded app during the quarter on iOS, followed closely by YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram. Expand Expanding Close
IMBb has released a big update today to its mobile apps, adding the the ability to purchase movie tickets directly from within the app and much more. The feature is initially only available to users in the U.S. and can be accessed directly through a “Showtimes & Tickets” section on listings for movies currently in theatres.
The updated Android app also includes the ability movies and TV shows by, for example, genre and format:
What’s New
What’s in this version:
·Movie tickets: You can now conveniently purchase movie tickets via the IMDb app. Currently available in the U.S. only.
·Your Watchlist: Now you can filter and sort the movies and TV shows on your Watchlist. Looking for horror movies currently in theaters, or comedies available on DVD/Blu-ray? Your Watchlist can help you zoom in on what you want to watch, where you want to watch it.
·We’ve made performance improvements to help pages scroll more smoothly and responsively, and fixed some bugs.
Last November, Rovio introduced a new Angry Birds Star Wars game that brought iconic Star Wars locations and characters from the movies into the Angry Birds gameplay universe. Today the developer is teasing what looks to be an entirely new Star Wars themed Angry Birds game. While Rovio’s initial tweet only mentioned a “Big new game announcement” coming this Monday, it later confirmed on its blog that the announcement will be for “a brand new game” with “the biggest character line-up ever, awesome new powers, and maybe even a few surprises!”
On top of the teaser, Rovio is also making Angry Birds Star Wars available for free today for a limited time.
We don’t get any other details, but Rovio did include the image above hinting the game might be inspired by Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace:
Business Insider reports that Google is renegotiating its Play Store revenue share arrangements in Korea, and is likely doing the same in other markets, with a view to increasing it’s profits from the app store to half a billion dollars next year.
Here’s how Google’s revenue currently works, according to [analyst firm] Macquarie: Google gives 70% of an app’s revenue to the developer. It gives 25% of that revenue to the carrier. It keeps just 5% for itself.
Jung says Google wants to keep 15% of app store revenue, and give the rest to the carrier.
Half a billion is relatively small-beer to Google, but BI speculates that the move could be designed to make the Android project – widely believed to be a break-even endeavour at best for Google – profitable.
Twitter’s Vine has pushed out an update for its Android app today that brings the video app to parity with its iOS counterpart. The update adds front-facing camera support as well as a new upload manager for all compatible devices.
In addition to these two new features, Vine for Android has also gotten some all-around speed improvements and support for more Android devices, although Twitter wouldn’t explicitly specify which ones.
The full Vine 1.2.0 for Android changelog is as follows:
Front-facing camera.
New upload manager for unsubmitted posts.
Improvements to settings.
Improvements to camera loading time and support for more devices.
Speed improvements overall.
Bug fixes and UI improvements.
You can download the new version now directly from Google Play.
Facebook announced today that it’s starting a beta program for its Android apps that will allow users to sign up to test and provide feedback on the latest build of the app before its released to the public.
Facebook is the most-downloaded app in the Play Store, so we need to make sure it works for everyone, no matter their amount of RAM, network conditions, or version of Android they might be using. Factors like data costs and network speeds are especially important to users, and we want to make sure we’re always optimizing their experiences. With so many use cases to solve, testing becomes crucial to ensuring positive, consistent experiences across Android.
While Facebook noted that it has been providing a beta of its Android apps to partners such as Qualcomm, HTC, Ericsson, Sony, Huawei and MediaTek over the last six months, starting today all users can now sign up to become beta testers.
According to a report from Nikkei (via Reuters), Microsoft has signed up Japan-based game developer Klab Inc to bring some of its console and PC games to the iPhone and Android devices. There aren’t many other details, but the report claims Microsoft’s next title to arrive on smartphones will be a free-to-play version of Age of the Empires:
Microsoft’s “Age of the Empires” will be available as a free-to-play game worldwide on smartphones by the end of the fiscal year 2013 and other titles will follow, the report said.
KLab is behind a few titles already on the App Store and Google Play, including Arcadia, Gigabot Wars, Eternal Uprising, and Lord of the Dragons.
It actually wouldn’t be the first game that Microsoft has published for smartphones as it recently brought its previously Windows Phone only title “Tentacles: Enter the Dolphin” to the App Store for both iPhone and iPad.
Google announced today on Google+ that a new partnership with Starbucks will provide free WiFi and the ability for customers at Starbucks locations to stream unlimited songs, radio and more from Google’s recently launched AllAccess music service. Apple has of course offered similar promotions and continues to offer free iTunes content and more through Starbucks locations. Back in 2007 it announced a partnership with Starbucks in the US to offer a free iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and it continues to offer its free app and song of the week picks through physical cards in store and through mobile apps.
Google’s new streaming music service is still limited to the US, so we’re assuming the new promotion is also limited to Starbucks locations within the country. Last we heard an iOS app for the service would be arriving sometime this month. Expand Expanding Close
Some iOS users might not be too happy about the big design changes in iOS 7, but Android users are already finding ways to get a few of the new features on their non-Apple phones. The image above shows a set of icons created by one Android user to mimic the new home screen icons on iOS 7 (via Cnet). Android users can grab the icons through a download on Dropbox and use Nova Launcher or other home screen replacement apps.
Android users can grab the icons through a download on Dropbox and use Nova Launcher or other home screen replacement apps to get Apple’s controversial new look on their Android device now.
That new 3D parallax effect Apple showed off for iOS 7? Android users have also found a way to get a similar 3D effect, as pointed out by AndroidCommunity in the video below:
The 3D Image Live Wallpaper seen in the video above has been on Google Play since November, but you’ll have to judge for yourself to see if it compares to the new parallax feature in iOS 7.
Verizon announced today that its Verizon FiOS app, previously only available for iOS devices, is now available for Android users through an app on Google Play. Like the iOS version, the free Verizon FiOS Mobile Android app brings live streaming to subscribers as well as a ton of on-demand content. The app will allow you to “watch up to 75 channels of Live TV at home, manage your DVRs remotely as well as browse and watch FiOS video-on-demand (VOD) anywhere you want“:
• Watch select live streaming TV channels from your device, anywhere in your home (* requires both FiOS TV and FiOS Internet service, as well as subscription to any of the channels you wish to watch)
• Access your Flex View content from anywhere, and browse over 40,000 titles in the Flex View On Demand library for great movie deals and exciting new TV programs
• Manage your DVR recordings, check the status of your DVR, and schedule new recordings from anywhere (* requires a DVR)
• Use your mobile or tablet device as a remote control while in your home (*requires an HD set-top box)
Warner Bros has revealed the Man of Steel game for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android smartphones and tablets. The game will be available from June 14, 2013 on the App Store, Google Play and Amazon Appstore for Android. We’ll keep you updated
We already knew a new white version of the Nexus 4 would begin rolling out after LG confirmed as much earlier this week. It first launched in Hong Kong on Wednesday, and today the device has finally hit both Google Play and T-Mobile’s online store for customers in the US.
You can grab the device now in both 16GB ($349) and 8GB ($299) variants from Google Play. Google is also offering a free white bumper with your purchase.
Google announced today on its Enterprise blog that it’s rolling out a new app for Google Apps administrators that allows them to access the Admin console directly from an Android device. With the new Google Admin app for Android users will have access to the majority of basic features including “quickly adding or suspending users, resetting passwords, managing group memberships, and directly calling or emailing specific users.”
