Google has launched Google Play
Google has launched its own “cloud” service Google Play. Now all applications, music, videos and books uploaded by users will be stored on Google servers, and they can be accessed from a smartphone, tablet or PC. In terms of functionality, the novelty, to put it mildly, resembles Apple’s iCloud.
From today, the Android Market, Google Music and Google eBookstore stores will become part of the Google Play service. In the coming days, the Android Market app installed on devices with Android 2.2 and higher will be updated to the Play Store. Accordingly, the applications for downloading videos, books and music will be replaced by the programs Play Movies, Play Books and Play Music.
Like Apple’s iCloud, Google Play allows you to sync purchased music, books (and you can start reading from the page where you finished reading on another device), apps and videos. You just need to log in to your Google account as usual.
Google Play allows you to:
• Store up to 20 thousand songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
• Download any Android apps
• Read e-books from the world’s largest collection
• Watch your favorite movies, including new ones
In the USA, music, books, movies and Android apps will be available as part of the Google Play service, in Canada and the UK – movies, books and apps, in Australia – books and apps, in Japan – movies and apps. In all other countries, users will be able to download only Android apps using Google Play. However, Jamie Rosenberg, Google’s director of digital content, wrote in his blog that they intend to make every effort to ensure that as many people as possible around the world have access to a variety of types of content.
In honor of the launch of the new service, Google is organizing a sale of music albums, books, movies and apps. For example, in the USA, the popular game “Crocodile Swamp” (Where Is My Water?) you can buy it for 25 cents.
Google emphasizes that apps and games will continue to be the focus of their attention, and they will continue to offer new ways to promote quality apps.
The development of the Google Play service will benefit developers, as written in the Android Developers blog, because they will gain access to a new audience around the world. The company’s goal remains the same: “to create a high-quality open store for the distribution of Android applications.”
Google Play is designed in much the same way as the Android Market, so for both users and developers, the transition will be almost invisible. Developers do not need to change anything in already published products, and it will be possible to publish new ones in exactly the same way as before. All applications uploaded to the Android Market will be available on Google Play.
You can find out more here: play.google.com/about or on the official Google page on the Google+ social network.
