Google Play

651 'Google Play' stories March 2012

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 No. 1 app on Android and iOS is OMGPOP’s ‘Draw Something’

Jordan Kahn Mar 19 2012 - 2:55 pm PT

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Pictionary-like drawing game “Draw Something,” developed by OMGPOP, has quickly become one of the hottest mobile apps for both of the industry’s leading platforms. A few days ago, the developer told TechCrunch it reached 25 million registered users, 10 million active daily users, and close to 1 billion paid ad impressions every day. That is just over 5 weeks after launching. With even more press following reports that Zynga is in talks to acquire developer OMGPOP, the app is continuing to climb app charts in both the App Store and on Google Play.

Currently the app sits at No. 1 in both stores as the No. 1 Top Paid and Top Free iPhone app in the App Store, and the No. 1 Top Free app on Google Play. The app is also currently the No. 1 Top Free iPad app in the game category and in the Top 5 of many other charts in over 80 countries. It looks like the company might get picked up by Zynga, which is not surprising, because a gain of 3.5 million daily users over the last week saw Draw Something take over Zynga’s “Words With Friends” as the most popular Facebook Connect game, according to AppData.

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Google Play to add audio books, magazines and journals? [Google Play sections removed]

Élyse Betters Mar 8 2012 - 9:46 am PT

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Reports circulated yesterday claiming Google is set to launch audio books, magazines and journals under its new Google Play service after the Internet giant slipped and included the respective categories within the Google Play Help Center.

With that said, the Audio Books sections are no longer listed in the Google Play Help Center. This link previously routed people to the Audio Books page, but now it is a generic Help page. [The screenshot to the right depicts what was formerly witnessed.] It seems Google was quick to fix the blunder.

Google Play apparently included an empty “Audio Books” page when it launched on Tuesday. There were also two subgenres appearing with a similar name in the Help Center called “audio books” and “audiobooks.” The discovery of these sections confused many, because Google’s eBookstore does not currently sell audio books.

More information is available below.

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Android Market is now Google Play

Élyse Betters Mar 6 2012 - 1:42 pm PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GdZxbmEHW7M]

Google announced it rebranded Android Market to “Google Play” today as a cloud-based digital entertainment destination.

“Starting today, Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore will become part of Google Play,” explained Director of Digital Content Jamie Rosenberg on the Official Google Blog.

Google Play lets users find, enjoy and share content, such as music, movies, books and apps, on the web and on an Android smartphone or tablet. Moreover, the cloud service stores all of the content online. Google Play allots free storage for up to 20,000 songs, and it has downloads for more than 450,000 Android apps, eBooks browsing, and rent options for thousands of movies, HD titles, and new releases.

The integrated destination replaces and extends Android Market as an attempt to create a stronger brand with enticing offerings and slicked purchasing for an all-around better experience that will “drive traffic and revenue for the entire ecosystem,” according to Kenneth Lui on the Android Developer’s Blog.

More information is available below.

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