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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.

This week’s top stories [Google I/O Edition]: Android N Preview 3, Daydream, Play Store on Chrome, Assistant, apps & more

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In this week’s top stories we round up all of our coverage from Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference where it also took the wraps off a number of upcoming hardware and software products. Android N Developer Preview 3, the Play Store comes to Chrome, Google Assistant, the new Daydream VR platform and much, much more.
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It’s official: Android apps and the Play Store are coming to Chrome

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It looks like there’s a little tidbit of information that might have been originally planned for the keynote (pulled because of time restraints, maybe?). According to a session description now on the Google I/O website, Google “announced” today that the Google Play Store is coming to Chrome…

Today we announced that we’re adding the best mobile app experiences in the world, Android apps and the Google Play store, to the best browser in the world, Chrome! Come to this session and test your Android apps for Chrome OS. You will get hands on help from our friendly engineers on how to optimize your Android app for Chromebooks. Oh, and we will also be giving the first 50 developers to show up a free Chromebook so they can get a head start bringing their apps to Chrome!

This isn’t exactly surprising as we saw evidence that this was in the cards all the way back in April, but it’s cool nonetheless to see it become official. It looks like this session is going to involve Google showing devs how to test their Android apps on the desktop platform. Also worth noting: the first 50 devs to show up will get a free Chromebook.

We’re on the ground at the event now, so stay tuned as we learn more.

Play Store v6.7 lets you join and leave the beta testing program, leave feedback for devs, more

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For those who are fairly experienced in the app world, joining betas is always exciting and fun — since it allows people to access the latest features and design tweaks — despite the usual presence of bugs.

With the rollout of version 6.7 of the Play Store, Android Police first spotted, Google will now allow you conveniently see if you’re in a beta testing group from within the Store itself, leave and join potential betas, and even give developers some feedback regarding the latest build…


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Google Play Music honors Prince by going purple, Android app testing new search bar

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After a months-long wait, Google Play Music finally added podcasts features earlier this week. To pay homage to the passing of music icon Prince yesterday, the web app has since adopted a purple theme. Additionally, some users (via Android Police) are now seeing a new search bar in the Android app.


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Google Play Store continues to lag behind iOS App Store in revenue despite advantage in downloads

For both Google and Apple, the operations on their virtual stores are hugely important, as they account for millions of dollars. However, there has historically been a disparity between the number of downloaded applications and the actual money generated by them, a trend that seems to have peaked in the first quarter of this year.

According to App Annie‘s Index Market for Q1 of 2016, in fact, Google’s Play Store saw a number of downloads that roughly doubles that of the iOS App Store, which in turns represents the platform with the highest profitability, with over 90% more revenue generated over its counterpart…


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Podcasts are now live in Google Play Music & rolling out to Android users, coming soon to iOS

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As leaked by NPR last week, podcasts are now live in Play Music. Google announced the feature last October and podcasters have since been able to upload their shows. Besides just subscribing and listening, Google will apply the same recommendation features for music to podcasts.


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Google removes Taliban app from the Play Store, alleged ISIS app remains

FILE - In this Monday, March 12, 2012 file photo, former Taliban militants line up with their weapons to attend in a joining ceremony with the Afghan government in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Secret contacts are again reported to be underway for an Afghanistan peace deal, but neither analysts nor the belligerents see hope they will succeed. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

The BBC reports that Google has removed an Android app used by the Taliban to post propaganda.

Alemarah, an app for Android phones created by Islamist fundamentalist group the Taliban, has been removed from Google’s Play Store […]

The hardline group blamed “technical issues” for its disappearance shortly after it launched on 1 April. However the BBC understands it was taken down because it violated a Google app policy which prohibits hate speech.

However, TNW reports that a messaging app allegedly created by ISIS remains available on Google Play.

Google says that it never comments on issues relating to specific apps.

Photo: AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

9to5Toys Lunch Break: Google Play MP3 albums $1, Lexar 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive $50, AKG Headphones $120, more

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Google Play MP3 albums $1 ea: Arctic Monkeys, Shinedown and Silversun Pickups

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Take home the Lexar JumpDrive 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive for $50 shipped (Reg. $80)

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Amazon Gold Box – AKG K-495NC Premium Active Noise-Cancelling Headphones $120 shipped (Orig. $350)

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Apple 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro (newest) 2.7GHz/8GB/256GB $1,200 shipped (Reg. $1,499)

Save big on Apple’s newest laptops: Retina MacBook Pro $1,000 (Reg. $1,299), 256GB 11″ MacBook Air $870 (Reg. $1,099)

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Buy or upgrade Parallels ($49-$79) & get 7 Mac apps free: 1Password, Parallels Access, & more (Reg. $269)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

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Green Deals: Goal Zero Nomad 7 Solar USB Charger (refurb) $30 (Orig. $80), Philips Dimmable LED Bulbs $6, more

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/710481620034297856 align=’center’]

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

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Bluetooth Speakers: Sony SRSX7 w/ Wi-Fi + AirPlay $130 (Reg. $150+), Bohm SoundBlock $22 (Reg. $50), more

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How-to: Use your car and an inexpensive inverter to replace the need for a home generator

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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Sony’s PS4 Virtual Reality kit is finally ready for primetime this fall + exclusive titles announced

Android gaming gets a boost w/ streaming game demos, indie apps collection, & gameplay recording/streaming

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Google is announcing several big Android gaming updates at this year’s Game Developers Conference. A majority of them will be user facing, like app streaming and more social features in Play Games, while others will help developers market and add new features to their games.


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Several Brit Awards 2016 performances are now available for free on Google Play

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Google Play has some of the biggest performances from the 2016 Brit Awards for free. There are a total of 7 songs available from major artists including The Weeknd, Coldplay, Justin Bieber and even a special tribute to David Bowie featuring Lorde with David Bowie’s backing band. All of the freebies can be streamed or downloaded exclusively from Google Play:

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Play Games will now use unique Gamer IDs to represent users, claim yours today

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Last month, Google announced that new Play Games users would get a player ID instead of having to make a Google+ account. Player IDs are now being rebranded as Gamer ID and will act as an in-game identity. As they are unique, Google recommends heading to the Play Games app now to claim yours.


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After over two years, Google quietly ends the Google Play for Education program

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CRN reported over the weekend that Google is quietly shuttering its Google Play for Education program, and now we have confirmation of the plans via a statement made to TechCrunch. According to this statement, Google will no longer be selling Google Play for Education licenses effective March 31st of this year. That said, existing customers should not be seeing an interruption of services…


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Final Fantasy IX is now available for download on Android w/ special launch pricing

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Late last year, Square Enix announced that a re-releases of Final Fantasy IX would be coming to Android, iOS and PC. At the time, there was no specific word as to when North American gamers would actually get their hands on it. However, this morning we noticed a listing for the Android version of the game go live on Google Play.


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