Google is rolling out its ‘try now’ button to hundreds of applications, offering you a chance to try out apps and games without installing them, and Google is doing this in collaboration with AppOnboard. According to CNBC, Google started rolling out this functionality yesterday, as developers such as Jam City and Scopely are using this new option in order to promote their content already. In addition to that, apps / games can be downloaded in the background, so that you can start using them if you like them, just like any other app / game you’d download and install.
For those of you who are unaware of this feature, this is not the first time we’re hearing of it, quite the contrary, Google made a big deal about it back in March during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Back then, Google’s Product Manager announced a new service for gamers called ‘Google Play Instant’, which is essentially this very same feature. It seems like Google doesn’t plan to stop there, the company’s vision is to push this feature further, away from the Play Store, even. Google plans to offer users a chance to try out a game while watching a YouTube video, for example, or alongside search results. This functionality will not become available that soon, but it is in Google’s plans, it seems, at least according to Jonathan Zweig from AppOnboard.
If this feature takes off, it may impact the mobile ad market, app install ads, in specific. In the US alon, over $7.6 billion was spent on install ads, according to eMarketer, and that market will definitely be disrupted if the ‘try now’ button becomes popular. It remains to be seen what will happen next, but there are quite a few games that can be tested without the need to install them first, and you can do it via the Play Store, via this link, if you’re interested.