It looks like Google is trying to rename everything about Android that is really Google’s doing – into something with Google in it. They’ve just killed the Android Market name (and web link) in order to rebrand it into Google Play. Now the focus will still be on apps, but also it will be a lot more on music, books and movies.
They will do this by separating all these into 4 categories. The apps will be available in the Play Store, the music in the Play Music, the books in Play Books, and finally, the movies in Play Movies. This certainly comes as a surprise that is unexpected, because we were all used to using the Android Market for these, although it’s true that the vast majority of people only used it for apps. So now that they are doing this, perhaps it will convince people to buy music from Play Music, books from Play Books, and so on.
Unfortunately, there’s still the same old country-access problem, and only a handful of countries have access to books, music and movies so far (blame the content labels):
- Paid Apps: Available in these countries
- Movies: Available in US, UK, Canada, and Japan
- eBooks: Available in US, UK, Canada, and Australia
- Music: Available in US
Another interesting part of this news is that you’ll be able to consume this content, including music and movies, on the web as well. You just need to use your Google account, which could explain why Google tried to streamline their privacy policy recently, and it’s only now coming out with this news, after the privacy policy was already in place. Take a look at the Google Play yourself on the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5SzWc8-X0M&feature=player_embedded