Skip to main content

The Early Beginnings of Google Play

Could you ever imagine Android without it´s logo?  Because whether you’re a user or a developer, you definitely know Andy,  the Android logo. In a way, Andy is part of the history of Android, and so it is Google Play.

Just for a second try to imagine the online world without the biggest application store. It seems impossible, right? Nowadays, we use Google Play  for  almost everything: gaming, being more productive, making lists, taking pictures, and the list goes on and on.

The emergence of Android Market
Maybe because now we’re so used to go to the Google Play, we had never think about the beginnings of this platform. To get started, the online store was launched in 2008, developed and operated by Google of course.

The first official name of the store was “Android Market”. Here, Android users could find games, movies, TV shows and other types of apps. Music was stored in Google Music and e-books in Google EBookstore.

However, in March of 2012,  Google decided to fuse all their online stores in only one platform, and that decision changed the experience of all Android users for good as it expanded and unified the Android App market.

Becoming Google Play Store
The new platform was named “Google Play Store” as we know it now. Some of the innovations for this new online store were the introduction of in-app payments and giving developers the chance to answer user’s comments.

Another innovation was to provide an easy way to publish apps in almost 49 languages. Since the beginning, Google Play offered free and paid apps for smartphones and tablets.

Google Play is flexible about the admission of author´s apps or big enterprises developer’s apps. This strategy is definitely a key piece of its evolution.

In 2014, Google Play Store made some changes to improve user experience, such as providing additional information about the apps, file size and ratings.

New functions and improvements in Google Play
In 2015, Google Play added new functions for android app developers in order to test their apps before launch them into the market. Also, new categories were improved inside the store: “Apps and Games” and “Entertainment”, which later became “Movies, Music, Books” (including TV shows and magazines).

The same year, Google decided to separate the sale of its hardware devices out of Google Play Store and put them in its own  Google Store division. With this decision, Google Play became a store for downloading and purchasing digital content purposes only.

Google Play didn’t stop there and in 2016 they were committed to enhance UI, guarantee user’s security and eliminate fraudulent or incentivized ratings. A task that they continue doing with their latest policy changes.

Google Play Store, 5 years and still making history
In a short matter of time, Google Play Store has become the online store with more visits of the market, having nearly 3.2 million apps.

To celebrate these first 5 years, Google published on its blog: “Google Play turns 5 today”. A post in which they presented a list of apps, games, movies, music albums and books most downloaded. Certainly special for the knowledge of their users.

Google Play Store is the perfect example of innovation of a digital platform. It has evolved in terms of support, security, user experience and design. And it will continued doing it for the coming years.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 top tips for Android Smart Phone Security

Compared to iPhone, there are much more people use Android Smart Phone. Similar to iPhone, Android Smart Phone is becoming a necessary part for our work and life. We call, send message, communicate and share the information and our mood with various SNS Apps, like Whatsapp, Snapchat, Instagram. We can quickly send/receive email, handle our work. With the third-party payment service, we can also proceed payment. So the security of our Android Smart Phone is vitally important. Now we can learn how to make our Android Smart Phone safer. 1. Set a screen lock. When we activate our Android Smart Phone for the first time, we can set a "pattern lock"-a personalized shape or pattern that is drawn on the screen to grant access. But the finger trace is easily seen. If it is stolen or lost, the others can easily access to the smart phone. So many Android phone maker upgrade the firmware to offer an alternative solution for screen lock-set a pin code, you can set a four-digit pin cod...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Can Android App Developers Stand Out?

Depending on what part of the world you are in, it could be different to stand out as an Android app developer . People from countries with bigger population may struggle with different situations than people from smaller countries, where standing out is relatively less difficult. But, this could also mean you may have to start things like Android Communities in your own country in order to make yourself a name. That being said, the most important thing to remind is that you must be able to detect your own abilities. When interviewing some of the instructors of the Professional Android developer course, we’ve noticed that this is key to improve your profile: Knowing what you are good at and realize which areas you need to improve.  So far, we’ve shared some tips and tricks for beginner developers and the soft skills required to be an entrepreneur. However, you should also consider that whenever you build something great as a developer you must let people know about it. Let’s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Building Android Apps in One Month? It’s Possible

When you study to become an Android app developer , you get to understand all the process of creating an app, from thinking about how to solve a problem to the final launch of the app in the Play Store. How many time do you think you need for building android apps? The android app development process requires an amount of time which may be considered as long for some people or just as usual for others . According to some companies, creating an app takes between 4 and 6 months. Other sites mention that the entire development of an app can take up to 300 hours of work, which divided into 8 daily hours of work give a total of 5 weeks approximately. However, if you are starting to learn about building Android apps, you should know that it is possible to do it in less time, if we talk about an educational approach. As long as you have a good orientation, you can learn about how to save yourself some time while creating your own amazing portfolio.  
Post a Comment
Read more