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293 pointsIgorPartola107 comments

I know that there is probably conflict between Google Wallet/Checkout - but they need to get on this issue like last YEAR -

GIFT CARDS!

It just implies that they don'y know anything about who is using Android phones in the U.S. I only have my gut to back this up (after observing who carries Android for the past 2 1/2 years or so) but Android devs will be able to make so much more money once Google starts selling gift cards in retail stores.

Why? Metro PCS, Boost Mobile, and teenagers. My guess is that they're a large part of the Android user base that is very unlikely to link up a credit card to their account. They would however be great candidates to use gift cards bought for them on birthdays/holidays.

I swear if they don't do this soon, it'll only keep more and more developers from releasing apps on Android. /rant

Or "send as gift". Just yesterday I wanted to give my girlfriend some android game (she doesn't have a credit card) and there is no way to do it (amazon app store only works in USA, or at least not here where I am).

It is absolutely remarkable that Google isn't on this yet.

Over the holiday season we gave out a number of iTunes gift cards to family. People are far more free with cash when it comes via a gift card than when it comes to their "own" money (or, I suspect, if it was cash). There is little doubt that many transactions occurred that wouldn't have if people didn't have this avenue.

> "It is absolutely remarkable that Google isn't on this yet."

I wonder if it isn't a situation similar to their slow speed in getting the international interfaces for android market off the ground: that is, for-pay "Apps" are simply not aligned with Google's preferences or best-interests.

They would, I'd imagine, very much like the idea of for-pay apps to simply go away. Not only do for-pay apps threaten the money-train that Google's advertising network has built, but they threaten the relevance of search itself, should more and more data disappear behind proprietary interfaces.

So what motivation does Google really have, to throw resources at the problems facing paid-app economics?

(edit: spelling)

> So what motivation does Google really have, to throw resources at the problems facing paid-app economics?

The 30% cut they get of each app sale: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/bin/...

That fee goes to the carriers and payment processors. Google doesn't take a cut.

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/10/android-marke... Paragraph 4

As someone with a couple apps on the Market, I wish I could also issue promo/gift codes for those apps (iTunes lets you generate promo codes).

I could send someone the APK file, yes, but then they'd need to sideload it. And, they wouldn't get updates from the Market from it, so I'd have to keep sending them new copies of the package. That isn't really a tenable solution.

This was probably the single biggest reason why I didn't participate in the last Humble Bundle. Having to sideload APKs of updated games is a huge timesink that I'd rather not have to deal with.

Really? I was able to open my Humble Bundle download link on my phone, which took me to a mobile-formatted page with direct links to the APKs. I just had to tap on them, open the "finished download" notification, and tap Install.

Yes, but every time they release an update you have to go to that page again and redownload the APK. You can't just open up the market and click "Update all".

And that's even if you hear about the updates. I've never seen any email from them after I've purchased a game telling me about new updates; you have to hear about that stuff through Twitter.

My understanding is that all you need to do is make sure your app is signed by your market key and it's version code is lower than the update you'd release on the market next and those people will get a proper update from the market. This really shouldnt be an issue. Ive done this on my android phones.

No. This doesn't work. At least not for the Humble Bundle games. The market shows an update available for Osmos, but when I click the update button it says it couldn't download the update because I haven't purchased the app.

I am not an android user, but I do have several apple products. Now that you mention it, that is surprising and to add to that, I only buy apps/music/books from Apple through a gift card. Our account is somehow messed up so that it will not take our credit card, so we can only use gift cards. I wounder how much of Apples purchases came because of the use of a Gift Card. My guess is a sizable chunk 20% - 30%

I totally agree. I have an Android phone, but I've had an iPod for years. I really don't like iTunes, but at least it does a good job of making it stupid easy to stumble into purchasing content and apps. I have gotten a lot of gift cards over the years and they got me in the habit of "impulse-buying" tracks.

If Google wants to get people in the habit of buying content from this service without asking for those magic digits, they really need this gift card solution.

Exactly that!

My sister (18) certainly has no credit cards. Once she got gift cards for iTunes (to buy music, actually) she also bought a few apps (for her iPod touch) – because it’s convenient and she has credit to spend there anyway. She hasn’t even considered to buy anything for her Android phone, though, mostly because finding a way to pay there is so damn inconvenient.

It’s not like you really need apps – but if the barrier is really low people will be happy to buy (mostly because everything is so cheap). Gift cards would help lower that barrier (if you can get them really everywhere, just like iTunes gift cards).

The biggest problem then might be brand awareness. My sister has a Sony Xperia Play (which I think is a pretty nice phone if you look at the hardware and ignore the software). That’s what she knows about the phone. There is no big Apple or big Google logo on it to show what kind of gift card she has to get. Marketing those gift cards so that people actually know what to get would be nightmare. Naming and branding is a disaster area in the Android space. It’s confusing as hell.

I think most Android users who've downloaded an app recognize the Market. It should be ubiquitous on Google approved Android devices - I'm sure a gift card with an Android on it and the Market (well, Play) logo should be fairly recognizable.

I’m very skeptical of that. The environment on those branded and customized Android phones is an extremely confusing one.

How so?

The bag with the Android logo seems like a universal brand even among different manufacturers.

What?! A bag? Do you really think people keep or care about and remember that? Really?!

And even then, Google just opened this Play thing, no Android logo in sight. What the hell is going on there.

I think if you are a nerd and stuck in the middle of it you can’t really see the craziness of it all, but believe me, it’s crazy.

And here I was hoping it would be a damn nice RSS/Video downloader/player in the way Google Listen is a fantastic RSS/Audio player...

My wife hasn't ever linked her credit card with the market, mainly because the fact there are even apps is likely news to her.

I know that there is probably conflict between Google Wallet/Checkout

I'm confused as to what you mean here. Purchases on Play are branded "Google Wallet".

Not between Wallet AND Checkout, but in integrating the Wallet "system" with a system of POS-purchased gift cards. I expect that since Google is trying to get its arms around what is left of Checkout, and what is being built with Wallet, that adding in another big implementation of payments (prepaid cards that people will probably work hard to defraud) is not what they're super-excited to tackle.

"Google Play? Is that like Google Labs, where they play around with new technologies? No, it's where you get apps for Android"

"Get music from Google Play. No, not Google Music. You play music in Google Music, but you buy it in Google Play. Got it?"

"You get apps from Google Play too. No, not apps for your music. No, not apps for Google services. Apps for your Android phone. Any type of app - from Google Play."

Sigh...

"Google Labs" => defunct

"Google Music" => "Google Play Music"

"Google Play Store" => where you buy things (apps + music + movies + books)

You buy and play music from Google Play.

I get the idea. Android Market is essentially Google's iTunes now, and they want to push the music/movies aspect. Google Play makes more sense than iTunes branding does (tunes are about 1/8 of what it does these days), but there is some weirdness. Play works well for music/movies/games, but not really for apps/books. I was introduced to the brand with an update to Google Books app saying it was now Google Play Books, which made me think Google was expanding into sports team management or something.

[it] made me think Google was expanding into sports team management or something

You actually thought that, or you came up with that as you were deciding to reply to the thread?

It was 100% legit (albeit momentary) confusion as I just happened to see the Google Books update with a completely new icon and name alone on the My Apps page before I heard the news elsewhere. A few minutes later I also got the update for Google Music and I looked into it. Besides the weird "play book/apps" convention, I actually think this a pretty smart branding move for Google overall.

Fair enough. Sometimes I read these things and assume that they are exaggerated for the sake of writing an interesting comment :)

jrockway, you're projecting.

No name will ever be ideal for every scenario. It always has pros and cons. But statistically, most people looking for apps are looking for games. So this name is better for the majority of the cases. So I'd guess the pros outweigh the cons.

Exactly. It also evokes the idea of 'playing' with a new program or gadget, something done with non-game applications all the time.

you play movies and play music. you press the play button...

only thing it doesn't work for is books. I guess Play is better than Google Media.

ugh, I hope they stick with an overloaded "Google Play" (like the overloaded "iTunes") rather than specifying "google play books".

First, because everyone will be fine with that in a month and know that multiple types of media are in there and second, because it's only a short hop from there to "Windows Live Home Mobile Live" or "Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch"

I like the new name because it makes it clear that this is one of Google's apps, not a part of Android.

'Android Market' was confusing a lot of people. I've seen more than a few journalists thinking that, for example, the Amazon Kindle Fire is not a complete Android based system, because it does not ship with the Android Market. Some even called it a fork.

It is a fork (as are all non-stock Android devices in the wild).

Yes, but you don't see anyone referring to HTC phones as 'forks'.

You're confusing Android with AOSP. "Android" is like "UNIX", it's more of an definition and API but not a specific product. Just like you have Solaris, IRIX, AIX, etc that are all UNIX because they satisfy the UNIX definitions; likewise AOSP, Sense, Blur etc are kinds of Android. I assume all known Android variants are derived from AOSP, but they don't have to be.

This is a great concept, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Google really needs some detail obsessed folks. How do they not notice the flicker on the transitions of the app market carousel? Also, a linear transition? Yuck.

Agree.

I'm reading this on an ipad, and in portrait mode this page https://play.google.com/about/features/ is unreadable because the text slides behind the pictures.

Apparently noone has thought about whether the site is even usable for someone with a horizontal screen resolution of less than 1024px - which in this age of mobile devices is probably a double digit percentage of users.

It looks fine in my phone's browser.

probably because you're getting a mobile page of some kind.

I just checked it in firefox on my laptop, and if you scale the window you'll see the text slide behind the graphics leaving the text unreadable.

how about the online "market"? It looks horrible. who designs these sites?

Just what I needed. Yet another service that doesn't offer any content in my country and even if it did, it doesn't seem like they would let me download the songs I paid for. Screw that.

Edit: I stand corrected about downloading. Thanks for the info, abraham.

Music users can download uploaded and purchased music. https://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/answer.py?hl=en...

There was a strong freedom connotation in the name "Android Market", both in that it used the Android brand which is associated with an open source project, and in the meaning of the word "Market". No such connotation exists with "Google Play".

Sad, but not surprising.

For those developers wondering where http://market.android.com/publish went, you can find your apps here: https://play.google.com/apps/publish/Home

Their new app badges[1] say "Get it on Google Play". It's not clear at all what platform you'll be getting it for. Most people know they have "an Android", not "something with Google Play". Bit of a step back.

[1] http://www.android.com/developers/branding.html#google_play

The app badge says "Android app on... Google Play". I'm guessing that the other badge is for non-Android-specific content, like a song or a book.

http://www.android.com/images/brand/android_app_on_play_larg...

I expect that Chrome apps will get transitioned to Google Play at some point as well as whatever future platforms Google supports. It makes sense to be more generic in that case.

> We're sorry. The Google Play music player is currently only available in the United States.

Should've known...

If you are not from the US, UK, Canada, Australia or Japan, you may only be able to download apps. No ebooks, games or movies. They should at least add private, non-commercial podcasts. No benefit to me in South Africa. Source - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/introducing-google-pl...

Anyone know if the apps will work on the Google TV? If so this is a lot more compelling. I'm assuming a pure Google Reader would be the next logical hardware step, in which case Google is ramping up to become a bigger threat to Amazon, which should prove to be very interesting. Apple vs Microsoft vs Google vs Amazon. That's a battle of the giants if I've ever seen one.

Android apps run on Google TV, but it requires layouts for a different screen as well as responding to the unique input device (Logitech mousepad/keyboard).

My Logitech revue just updated: Market -> Play.

Movies & Music already work, though books doesn't (kind of a no brainer).

Anyone care to guess what's up with these crazy long URLs? For instance https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bithack.ap....

The ?t= part doesn't seem relevant to the document being shown as you get the same page without it.

I'm guessing it's a tracking string.

It's actually past the # in the URL so it's not being used by the server, rather it's probably being picked up and reported with Javascript.

We're sorry, the document you requested is not available in your country. :(

Yep ... same old same old :/ Why do these people (and I don't mean google) refuse to take my money?!

Google would really like your money, but in order to get it, they'd have to spend a lot of money. The reality is that there are so many laws about IP and money that it's nearly impossible to sell music or collect money in the US. Any business that does this successfully only does so after much hacking around US-based corporations and laws. Each new country is a fresh start, and the intersection of laws between two countries is almost always the empty set, meaning that there is no scaling effect. It's like swimming to shore while being sucked out by a rip current. You die.

A Google engineer implementing payment processing rules costs the same as a Google engineer inventing the space elevator. So Google is not going to do something like launch a brand new super complex product in every country, because that's money that could be spent on something actually cool.

Yeah I know, I said I don't blame google. We all know who is at fault here, and I was referring to them ...

It's getting easier though, at least in Europe... a common currency (mostly) and an ongoing harmonisation of data protection (just started), business and IP laws. It's not there yet but at least it'll make European countries a lot easier to enter eventually.

Maybe this is a preparation to unify the Android Market and the Chrome Web Store? This is a brand that would make sense for both android and web apps.

evertime.. everytime the same thing. Why are those services most of the time not available in my country? Makes me mad.. Google Voice, Google Music, Google Play, netflix, hulu, pandora, etc etc etc(!!!)

pff... :(

Or as it's known in Germany: "Leider ist das gewünschte Dokument nicht in Ihrem Land verfügbar."

Stupid geo restrictions...

The animation on this page renders very poorly for me (Chrome, OS X)

https://play.google.com/about/

Works well for me. OS X 10.6.8, Chrome 19.0.1061.0

That's because they are animating top and left instead of using CSS3's translate, so they aren't getting nice smooth hardware acceleration.

Speed aside, displaying the movie covers/posters behind all those triangles is weird. I imagine when there's a fence on the cover itself it could make for a cool interference effect but otherwise it just seems like every movie is set in prison .

It doesn't work well with Google's account switching yet.

I happen to have 2 google accounts (personal and work) and was logged in to both. With mail and docs I can switch back and forth between them.

In Google Play, there wasn't a way to switch from the "default" account to purchase music unless I signed out of 1 and signed in with the other.

I'm sure that'll come along later, though. I realize my usage is an edge case.

Google Play is a smart attempt by GOOG to gain more control of MO/OEMs. Platform fragmentation exists across 5 axes (UI, Device, OS, Marketplace, and Service).

By bundling these services together they may make it harder for MO/OEMs to implement their own and reduce fragmentation across both the "Service" and "Marketplace" fragmentation axes.

While I like the overall concept I find that the navigation on Play is horribly broken. For example from Google Play Music I don't see any way to get back to the main Google Play store to buy apps or movies:

https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#start_pl

The Market autoupdate mechanism is going to ensure that the Market icon spontaneously disappears on all devices running 2.2+ (with Google branding) in unison, much to the confusion of every single user who just knows "I press the 'Market' thing and I get games."

Once again, not available in my country (Germany). Which is extra dissatisfying because Google Music worked just fine (I was in the early beta).

Is there any way for me to get a US credit card and bind it to a German bank account, or PayPal, or whatnot?

Had to read quite a few comments to understand what was happening. Accessing the site from France, I only see Android apps and games.

What is on the US site exactly? Movies and music? Would anyone mind posting a screenshot?

here you go: http://i.imgur.com/5Bdmk.png

That makes more sense, thanks!

Here's the version I get if anyone's curious:

http://i.imgur.com/HIb4d.png

(Notice the 1 $ = 1 € conversion...)

For a moment I thought Google was getting into gaming...

Hey, after Valve's Steambox anything is possible, and if rumors are true they are trying to emulate Android's model with OEMs.

Hm, it looks like market.android.com now also redirects to Google Play. Wasn't Android supposed to be a separate entity from Google?

Well the market isn't part of Android. It's part of the Google experience.

The Android Market has always been separate from Android.

Also, I think Google should've adopted the same strategy with Android as they did with Chrome and Chromium. Basically, they make everything open source, but they only promote the "Google Chromium", known to us as Chrome.

They should've done something similar from the beginning, because it's obvious Google wants a "Google Experience Android" to be separate than the Android that is accessible to anyone. If the projects had different names, it might've avoided some of the confusion about others using "Android" to make their own projects (like Amazon, B&N, and some Chinese companies).

Also, it would've forced manufacturers to keep it mostly the same (Would you get a Samsung branded Chrome?). But because they promoted Android instead of the "Google Experience Android", now they are coming out short in some ways, and manufacturers get to do almost whatever they want to Android. I'm not saying this is good or bad - just that it's bad for Google, and for their sake, it would've been better to use the Chrome/Chromium strategy.

Now they're trying to do this by renaming everything into "Google X" instead of using Android anymore. It might work, but it should've happened from the beginning, and it might be a bit confusing to do it right now.

On the flip side, they've only been able to get as far as they have on the strength of alliances that may not have flourished with such a clear line drawn.

Wasn't Android supposed to be a separate entity from Google?

Android itself is ostensibly controlled by the open handset alliance. However the Android Market is and has always been a Google property. Non-Google-sanction Android devices do not have access to the market. If anything this name more closely reflects the division of the two.

Appears some of the apps have been put on sale as part of the launch. HotUkDeals has a list of what's available for those that are interested:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/android-market-play-sale-app...

For having as much money as Google does (presumably), they really don't invest in design talent all that much. This UI is killing me.

Edit: Which is kind of bizarre because they hired this guy a while back: http://dribbble.com/KounterB

Prediction: he has a blog post in 5 months about google, creative restriction, and why he quit.

I find their departure away from their usual logo styles pretty interesting. I like the logo, but it doesn't really say "google" to me. Maybe that's what they were intending http://cl.ly/053t0P2T1w441L3h3P0w

A lot of new google properties have that style, eg. https://developers.google.com/ and the Google Apps icon.

But that at least is using the bold primary colors associated with Google's logo. The Play logo uses off-colors (this goes beyond the logo, look at the main page: movies/music/apps and games/books are in the same colors as the Play logo). I thought this was weird as well -- all of the other Google favicons (gmail calendar, docs, spreadsheets) have strong, bold colors used in the Google logo -- just glancing at the favicon I couldn't tell this was a Google site.

I wonder if this is intentional though; it seems very odd to depart from their traditional colors.

This is the least exciting thing I have seen today. There are hundreds of these throw away games which are nothing more than a time sink and contain no more depth than an A4 sheet of paper.

So there is an new/improved platform store to buy/sell these apps. Greeeaatttt....

Gah.. The logo looks like something Microsoft would come up with.

There are a total of 71 movies listed, or am I missing something?

Try search; e.g., http://play.google.com/store/search?q=the&c=movies&s...

Ok, I see the rest, apparently I was looking in "Staff Picks".

I don't see a way to buy, is this rental only for movies?

Yes.

This brings many of Google's stores under one brand, but the Chrome Web Store remains separate. (It has web apps, extensions, themes, etc.)

Why isn't the Chrome Web Store a part of this?

It looks like a carbon copy of Apple App store / iTunes.

It does look similar, though it does have cloud-based music syncing, more books, and other nice incremental improvements.

The only problem with Google is they just have no taste.

Could you explain more?

It's a website where you spend money to get stuff for your phone.

Why isn't apple sueing them? They're copying their ideas...

Aside from the new logo, it looks pretty much identical to how the Android Market site has looked for well over a year.

It's also logical that it would resemble the Apple/iTunes store, since they both serve pretty much the same purpose but for different platforms. Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com both look substantially similar for example.

And still no API for music.

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