The folks over at Android Police have gotten their hands on the next version of Google Play Store for Android which is version 4.4. Of course, as they do with every new APK, they’ve torn it down to see what’s new in this version, and it looks like the long rumored Google Play Newsstand is on its way!
Back in March, Android Police also got a tip about some bits of Javascript and CSS code inside the web version of the Google Play Store, which shows a news category, which you can see in the image above. Since then, we haven’t really seen much about Google Play Newsstand. That was until today.
Bringing us to October 2013, Artem found some interesting tidbits in the 4.4 version of the Play Store. Basically what was named Google Play News back in March is now Google Play Newsstand. There’s now code inside the APK for the Newsstand, so it looks like it’s waiting to be flipped one.There’s also some other bits of code in there like the tidbit shown below.
<string name=”newsstand_download_required”>To continue, you need the latest Play Newsstand app.</string>
<string name=”widget_newsstand_now_playing”>My Newsstand</string>
<string name=”how_to_newsstand_app”>Open the Play Newsstand app</string>
<string name=”warm_welcome_try_newsstand_app”>Try Newsstand app</string>
<string name=”warm_welcome_install_newsstand_app”>Install Newsstand app</string>
<string name=”warm_welcome_enable_newsstand_app”>Enable Newsstand app</string>
<string name=”warm_welcome_title_newsstand”>Check out the latest magazines and news</string>
<string name=”warm_welcome_description_newsstand”>Your favorite magazines and news are right here on Google Play. Pick up the latest issues or try out a free trial subscription. Read instantly with the Play Newsstand app, even offline.</string>
<string name=”content_description_thumbnail_newsstand”>Image of newsstand cover %1$s</string>
<string name=”no_results_for_query_newsstand”>No newsstand results found for “%1$s”. Extending the search to the entire Store.</string>
Additionally, what’s awesome is that there is a Google Play event going on next week in new York City. However, we’re also hearing from Android Police’s sources that the event next week is also not about the Newsstand feature. And that it appears to be pretty generic in nature and targeted at mainstream press, which is probably the reason why most tech publications, like ourselves, never got an invite.