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Android has changed quite a bit since its original release in 2008 on the HTC Dream, but reminders of the platform's early days are still hanging around. For example, the Play Store listing for the Android Market — the precursor to the Play Store itself — is still live.
It has been more than five years since we said goodbye to the Android Market and hello to Google Play. You may have long since adjusted to the change, but there's been a version of the Android Market out there all this time. Google's putting an end to that soon, though. On June 30th 2017, the Android Market client on Android 2.1 and earlier will stop working.
Happy New Year! It's that time again; with the new year comes our new annual prediction post. I tackled this last year, and rather than do a bunch of crazy, pulled-from-thin-air predictions, I ended up with a link-filled research-fest for the year. It worked out pretty well, so that's what's on the docket for today. First though, I'll take a look and see just how many of last year's predictions and rumors came true, and provide some updates for the more important topics.
Editorial: 9 Months Later, Is The "Google Play" Brand Switch Actually Working For Android?
Earlier today, while distracted by a YouTube video doing some article research, I started watching Stephen Colbert's interview at Google with Eric Schmidt. It's pretty great, and you should definitely watch the whole hour - seeing Colbert out of character (and talking about that character) on video for so long is a rarity. He's a really smart guy, and hilarious, to boot.
Download: Latest Google Play Store v 3.7.11 (Jelly Bean Edition)
Earlier today, Google announced a slew of new content for the Play Store, including magazines, TV shows, and the ability to purchase movies. New content
Earlier today, Google announced a slew of new content for the Play Store, including magazines, TV shows, and the ability to purchase movies. New content is great, but there's a problem: the new Play Store isn't yet available on devices other than the Nexus 7 and I/O Galaxy Nexus (post-Jelly Bean update).
Editorial: Why Google Play Isn't A Bad Name, And How It Represents A New Age For Google As A Company
I have heard an absolute heap of unpleasantness about the rebranding of the Android Market today. Google Play is childish. It's unprofessional. It makes Google look less than serious about its content business. The logo is weird. The name is ambiguous - play what? It reminds people of Sony products. There are endless gripes and, let's face it, there always will be when a company rebrands a popular product.
The Android Market hit a milestone over the holiday weekend - it now contains over 400,000 apps, putting it only 100,000 apps behind Apple's App Store in terms of sheer quantity. What's even more impressive, though, is that the Market is now the largest store in the world for free apps, with a whopping 68 percent of its collection available sans price tag.
Tired of your lackluster music collection? El Goog is here to you help you remedy that with a huge sale on millions of tracks for just $0.49 in the Android Market. Buying single tracks not your style? No worries, most albums are going for a mere $4.99, too.
If you've been checking out what the Android Market has to offer during it's "10 Billion" promotion, then you've probably had some difficulty in getting the apps you desire. Today, many users experienced error messages and cancelled orders as the market groaned trying to support the insane amount of traffic pouring in to snatch up some tasty 10 cent treats. Be grateful if you managed to grab the ones you wanted, because many were not so lucky. However, if you happened to receive a cancelled order, you should be seeing an email soon from good ole Google letting you know how to get the apps you wanted.
In case you haven't heard, Google has been offering 10 apps a day for just $0.10 each as part of a 10 day promotion to celebrate the 10 billionth download from the Android Market. For end users, this promotion has been fantastic, as it offers quality paid apps for next to nothing. In fact, the promotion has also been great for the developers behind the promoted apps, who have seen hugely increased exposure, skyrocketing purchases, and higher spots in the "Top Paid" list. Let's take a quick look at the current state of the Top Paid list, actually:
If you're running a device without the Android Market and rely exclusively on the Amazon Appstore for your app-purchasing (say the Kindle Fire, for example), then you may be feeling slightly bummed that you can't score all these ultra-cheapo apps in Google's 10 Billion Promo sale. No worries, my friends, Amazon refuses to be outdone!
The Android Web Market just received a minor, but useful update in regards to app reviews. Now, when a review is posted, the version of the application being used and the device the app is installed on appears right above the text. In addition, any review can now be linked to individually, and when the link is followed, you'll be brought to the app's market page with the review in question front and center. These features, though small, could prove beneficial to both developers and users alike.
ADWLauncher EX, one of the most popular launcher replacements on the Market, has received a major update just in time for the app's birthday, and Google's 10 Billion app download celebration, which is set to bring 10 apps a day to the Market for just $0.10 each over the next 10 days. ADWLauncher EX is set to be one of the promoted apps, so new buyers should hold off until it appears in the promotion.
Since before the launch of Amazon's Kindle Fire, the Android community has been atwitter, planning to break through the shopping giant's custom Android variant to achieve a true Android experience. Coming one step closer to that, BriefMobile has provided detailed instructions on how to get the Android Market running on Amazon's affordable 7" slate.
Google Music support was just announced for the Android Market. You can preview and buy music right on your phone! Right now you are probably asking "How can I get it?!"
Lending credence to theories that Google's November 16th event may have something to do with the debut of the Google Music Store, a writer at TecnoDroidVe has discovered (what appears to be) a work-in-progress version of the store, accessing it from his HTC Inspire 4G. While it's unclear how exactly Ricardo found his way into the Music Store, the screenshots he was able to recover look very promising.
Logitech may have said that launching the Revue was "a mistake of implementation of gigantic nature" and that it has chosen to ditch Google TV entirely, but it has, thankfully, decided against reneging on its promise of one more software update. And, yes, said software update is exactly the one that was shown to us back at the end of October: the one that brings an updated, usable interface and - drumroll please - Android Market integration.
All day in my RSS reader, I've been hearing about how PayPal is coming to the Android Market. Someone ripped apart the latest Market APK and found references to PayPal, assumed this was new, and assumed that it meant PayPal support would be soon be hitting the Market.
An update started rolling out to the Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi earlier today, bumping the build number up to HTK75D. While we're not entirely sure of everything that this update brings, there is one obvious difference: the Market.