During the I/O 2018 Developer Keynote, Google announced a successor to the APK format that will bring wild new features and improvements to the Android ecosystem.
Google has today announced that Android Instant Apps can be developed by anyone — not just the select group of partners that have been making the modular apps up to this point.
Today, we’re opening Android Instant Apps to all developers, so anyone can build and publish an instant app. There are also more than 50 new experiences available for users to try from a variety of developers, such as HotPads, Jet, the New York Times, Vimeo, and One Football. While these experiences have only been live for a short amount of time, the early data shows positive results. For example, Jet and HotPads are seeing double digit increases in purchases and leads generated.
To get started with Instant Apps, developers should head over to the Android Developers website and download the Android Studio 3.0 preview and, of course, the Android Instant Apps SDK
Code spotted by Android Police in Google Play services v10.0 suggests that Android Wear will soon support contactless payment for Android Pay. So far your only options for paying by watch are Samsung Pay on the Gear S3 and Apple Pay on the Apple Watch.
Strings like ‘Try holding your watch to the terminal again’ leave little doubt about Google’s plans …