Surprising Android users, Google rolled out a major update to their Android Market two weeks ago. Introducing Google Play, the new home for apps, video, books and music all under the same roof. Gone is the Android Market, the identifiable home to apps and other content. While the move seems appropriate, the phased rollout confused Android users, as Google did not do an adequate job announcing the change to customers.
Beyond Android apps, Google sells books, music and videos, among other things. Before Google Play, users had to purchase books from the Google eBookstore and music from Google Music. There was not a streamlined place to access content, nor did many users know where to find and purchase content other than apps on their Android devices. Google Play puts everything under one roof, but its user-friendliness still lacks when compared to Apple’s iTunes and App Store.
Jamie Rosenberg, Director of Digital Content at Google had this to say about Google Play:
“Entertainment is supposed to be fun. But in reality, getting everything to work can be the exact opposite… Today we’re eliminating all that hassle with Google Play, a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite music, movies, books and apps on the web and on your Android phone or tablet.”
But Google did not prepare Android users for the massive change. Instead, Android devices, depending on their fragmented software and wireless carrier, received an update, which literally removed the Android Market icon from the home screen of a device and replaced it with Google Play. From a branding perspective, Google has spent millions of dollars investing in the Android operating system, thus the Android brand. And just like that, the one icon – the Android Market – for the Android brand is gone from devices
Under Google Play, a page was taken from Apple’s iCloud: content gets shared across devices. This will be helpful to the minority of people that have Android tablets.
By housing all of Google’s content under the same roof, Google hopes to encourage users to purchase more non-free content. Particularly, Google Music is important to the company because, since Android devices are linked to a Google account, Google can see your music taste and better serve you advertisements. It’s the reason that Google lets users upload 20,000 songs to a Google Music locker: Google can mine this data and share it anonymously with advertisers.
The user interface is still very lackluster, which is all too common with Google products. The colors are dark and not friendly. However, the bigger problem that Google faces are the number of users that don’t purchase paid apps, as well as the number of fake and malicious apps that make their way into Google Play. The results are users downloading free apps over paid apps by a large margin. This doesn’t help persuade developers to make unique apps for the Android platform, nor does it persuade them to develop apps for Android tablets.
Overall, Google Play is a welcome change for Android users, which likely appeared out of the blue. Will it impact Google’s Music and Books sales? Time will tell, but it does show that Google intends to make Play a centerpiece to Google TV in the near future.
