Android Market morphs into 'Google Play'

Google's Android Market is dead – long live the Google Play online store. On Tuesday, Google rolled out new branding for its Android Market, focusing on the entertainment content that users can load onto their Android devices and PCs – music, books, and movies – and relegating mobile apps to less-prominent status. Apps will …

[Anonymous Coward]

does not matter what you call it

The free aps will still demand permissions that delve into the deepest corners of your device, secretly taking your details, your friends details and then bombarded you with useless and meaningless spam ads.

[Craigness]

Re: does not matter what you call it

AC in "acts like a tw@t on comment boards" shocker!

Don't install if you don't like the privs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: does not matter what you call it

Stopped long ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: does not matter what you call it

There's no choice, you either accept or you don't get. Pretty much a one sided contract, and look at the permissions some of the apps require?

Sod Google play sod them all.

[Chet Mannly]

Re: does not matter what you call it

"There's no choice, you either accept or you don't get. Pretty much a one sided contract"

Well at least you are informed in the first place.

And you also have the option to install a privacy app so you can choose what permissions you give each application.

Better to have options than not know anything and not be able to make your own choices.

[@brykins]

Re: does not matter what you call it

"The free aps will still demand permissions that delve into the deepest corners of your device...."

And not just the free ones, either.

[Tom Jasper]

Block them dubious perms

Suggest hunting out a V1.2.1131 (standard edition) of LBE Privacy Guard (if rooted) - not the new one, which doesn't have a formal translation from Chinese (but you can find some repackaged with translations versions if you hunt hard enough).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: does not matter what you call it

"secretly taking your details, your friends details and then bombarded you with useless and meaningless spam ads"

LIES. Evidence or STFU.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: does not matter what you call it...we are being RAPED

stop being so naive!!! we are being RAPED by the google, facebook and apples of this world.

since we are on the google thread, let me start with them.

Google, on the idea that they are 'helping' us #to help themselves#, decided to centralise all logins accross applications. I usually have more than one email address, one that i use for official sites, like my bank, my bills and incidently Orange #my HTC phone# which links back to Google. Google being just the android developer for my HTC phone. so now, when i go to Youtube, for example my real name is retrieved automatically!

I consider myself as a law obidinng citizen, and would like to stress that i do not want google to link my accounts and do what ever they please with them. I have my own reasons on how i organise my life.

Worse, i have been on the Google Play, #former market place# today. and just wanted to buy an application that gives me access to my favorite radio station Soma.fm. I was horrified to see that with the introduction of the Market Play, google is pushing their 'google wallet' as the ONLY METHOD of payment!!!! They kindly request you to provide your credit card details for them to STORE #Apple has been doing that for years, and you can't even share music you own, among the different computers in your house without having to provide apple with your credit card details!# . If I was asked to provide my credit card details before entering a shop, then i wouldn't enter, if the shop #supermarket or other# tells me that they will store my credit card details, then i wouldn't shop with them. What is so different when we are online?

I for one will stop buying applications, just download free ones. I am fully aware of the sad consequences this might have on the apps developers, but my freedom is at stake here.

[BorkedAgain]

Re: does not matter what you call it

"...secretly taking your details, your friends details and then bombarded you with useless and meaningless spam ads"

Really? They're awfully clever about it then, because I'm pretty sure at least one of my friends or business contacts would have mentioned an increase in spam as a result of installing some productivity app or another, but they're bombarding us all with such subtlety that we'd never guess.

Which raises the question: If a tree falls very gently in the woods and nobody notices, who gives a shit?

[illiad]

Re: does not matter what you call it

no problem with one fallen tree, but 6 months later, the 'watering hole' gets smaller and dries up... its the *other* thousand trees building up, that blocks the stream, causes extreme flooding, re-routing the river, and ruining all those dependent on it...

there is no problem now with spam, but I will bet 3 to 6 months later you will wonder why its crashing a lot more, you and your friends keep getting 'strange' emails, and somehow your favorite pic has been strangely modified ....

[Anonymous Coward]

How fitting

Android Market was far too serious, Google Play is the perfect brand for their toys.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bold move, but not sure I like the name. I get it's play as in playback but still gives productivity / e-learning apps a bad rep.

Anyway I wonder if the Google+ connection will lead to some sort of Game Center/Openfeint thing,... for Google+ users.

[Gene Cash]

Ugh. Shovel that crap on there

To me, that screen is just an annoyance that it didn't go directly to "My Apps"

If Google is going to push their books, why don't they spend time on writing a reader that can display basic things like footnotes, and isn't a usability showcase of horrors?

And of course there's the thoroughly beaten dead horse where Google has an app store where you can't find anything unless you already know the name.

How about policing the hundreds of apps that are simply warmed-over examples from the SDK with a price tag and adware (maybe some malware too) added? Or the couple hundred apps that are a rotating cube with various Playboy copyright violations horribly pixelated onto them? Then perhaps I can take the "contains 450,000 apps" bit seriously.

And if I hack it, can I say I was only playing around?

[Craigness]

Re: Ugh. Shovel that crap on there

It went to that page because they showcase the products which you can buy in the store. "My Apps" is only a click away, but I doubt many people go to an app store to see what apps they've installed.

That dead horse was dead even before the Android Market went live. Right now you can search for any term and find apps which match (yes they really do match - try it!), which are available for all of your devices or just one, are either free or paid or both and you can have the results ordered by popularity or relevance. When you click on an app you have a link to other apps by the same developer, apps which were viewed by others who viewed that app, and apps which people who viewed that app installed. I have no idea why this meme about the Android Market being "clunky" etc came from. It's never caused me any problems.

[Jedit]

""I have no idea where this meme about the Android Market being "clunky" etc came from"

Apple fanbois. 'Nuff said.

[Robert Carnegie]

"My apps"

I use "My apps" to control application updates. Maybe "many people" prefer to allow auto-update of their apps. I hope that that includes "don't auto-update if the permissions are changed".

If the new "Android Market" is "browser-based" inside Android's web browser, then probably you can bookmark straight into "My apps". I'll need to look at that.

[Craigness]

Re: "My apps"

For the market app on the phones it would make sense for that to be the first thing you see. Personally I never auto-update and I never update apps via the website (didn't even know you could).

[heyrick]

this meme about the Android Market being "clunky" etc

Market on 2.1 was pretty poor. Things are much better with 2.3...

[Anonymous Coward]

Play.com?

I wonder if Play is going to sue, since they also sell MP3s and e-Books?

[deshepherd]

Re: Play.com?

Yes ... saw an item on hotukdeals today about a sale on "Android Market (Play)" and my immediate assumption was that play.com must now have an android market. It was only when I read another article like this one about the name change that I realized it was talking about the Google Android Market which is now called Play.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Play.com?

I can see it causing confusion. ("Where did you get it from? I got it from Play.")

There's also a web framework called Play (http://www.playframework.org/).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Play.com?

Wouldn't be surprised. Have you seen play.com recently? It's pretty woeful since the japs took over.

[David Taylor 1]

From Google's blog

"Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again."

Well, except that the T&Cs require me to agree that Google can remotely delete all my music, movies, books and apps...

[Boothy]

Re: From Google's blog

I think it's time we had an update to consumer protection laws for the modern world.

Something along the lines that once you've bought something from an on-line/cloud based type service, that the item is yours, and the cloud service cannot remove, or deny access to those items without something along the lines of a court order.

[Pascal Monett]

"the cloud service cannot [..] deny access to those items without [..] a court order"

Amen to that !

I think it is high time somebody bring the attention of the courts to the fact that said deletions are a violation of normal commercial contracts. Nowhere is it lawful to come and take back a book I bought - why should a digital version be different ?

It's not because you have the ability to do something that you have the right to do it. I thought that was the whole point of law - to remove the advantage of power and level the field. On the Internet, and especially in the cloud, the field is far from level.

Bring back the court orders !

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "the cloud service cannot [..] deny access to those items without [..] a court order"

"Nowhere is it lawful to come and take back a book I bought - why should a digital version be different ?"

I'm sure there are circumstances where a book you have bought can be seized ... remember back 20-ish years ago when UK tried to ban the "SpyCatcher" book because it might reveal MI6 secrets - they couldn't stop it being published in the US but if they saw someone coming in from the US with a copy it was sezied. Similarily it you buy a dodgy DVD from somewhere which is not classified by the BBFC and authorities find out then they can seize it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "the cloud service cannot [..] deny access to those items without [..] a court order"

I agree that something like that is required, but it also comes with the problem that granting Google permission to delete stuff would be necessary in law to be able to uninstall something from your device via the website interface.

The simple starting point would be for Google to update their Ts and Cs along the lines of "I agree that Google can remotely delete any music, movies, books and apps etc upon my request or where legally obliged to do so".

At the moment it's far too vague.

[CowardlyLion]

Re: From Google's blog

I've just had a notification pop up that an app (Angry Birds) requires updating. Clicked on the notice and I get the message "By using Google Play you agree to the Google Play Terms of Service, the Google Books Terms of Service and the Youtube Rentals Terms of Service" with accept and decline buttons. I read the first of those (Google Play Terms of Service) and did not like it, especially the bit that says, more-or-less, we reserve the right to delete anything we want off your phone any time we like. So I hit the decline button. That just quits the app, so now I can't update Angry Birds (as it is in this instance). Presumably I now cannot update any of my apps ever again until I accept these new terms, let alone install anything new - not even the ad supported freebies. This is not good at all.

[Dave's Jubblies]

Sounds too much like Durex play... the sexy-time lubes sold in the UK...

At least, that was the first thing that sprang through my mind... maybe its just me...

[Anonymous Coward]

You'll need a lot of lube all right

for Google's next "privacy" update.

[Anonymous Coward]

Errm.

Apple took 4 years to reach 25-billion milestone.

Google reached 13bn in 2 years, and the growth means it will reach 25bn is much less than another 2 years.

Me personally, I think the name Google Play sucks, but the service itself seems REALLY good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Errm.

Get your facts right Barry:

Date of opening -

App store: 10 July 2008

Android Market: 22 October 2008

So they're really just 3 months apart.

Apple's App Store will also reach another 25bn faster. Actually at the rate it has been going since February (49 million downloads a day) it will take less than 1.5 years to get to 50 billion.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a a familiar cry

Barry you raved about Google Music here

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2011/11/17/google_music_free_streaming_android/

and now Google Music is shedding users at an alarming rate, so it seems that Google had to do something - bundle everything together so they can claiming numbers for an unpopular service - just like google+

http://www.waynerosso.com/2012/03/01/google-music-losing-users-weekly/

I wonder how they'll be doing in a year

[Craigness]

Bundle together

This news is not about the bundling together of different services, it's about a name change. The bundling together was done ages ago in the Android Market, but from the misunderstandings of the "news" sites covering this story and the general comments about android not having an ecosystem*, it seems that nobody noticed. Calling it "Play" has already got people to notice.

*Android has many ecosystems/content delivery systems - Google/Amazon's, the OEMs' and whatever you want to install from one of the app stores.

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't believe this isn't here yet

When can we expect the Play mobil re-enactment of Google Play?

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Sucks

Having seen the clunky user interface, all I can say is thanks but no, thanks.

Half the page swamped by big, friendly crayonings that is another dose of web2.0rhea

It's a big fail.

[Anonymous Coward]

Layout

What's wrong with the layout? Seems there's a whole another blank page of just background if you scroll down past the footer. Are they hiding something in there or what.

I can't believe Google approved this for release.

[Michael Kean]

For the TV?

Hmm

"Play" sounds like something I'd associate with a TV - I wonder if they're looking at that instead.

I'm a happy Android owner, but recently saw on Reddit that there's a hole in Android (like iOS) that allow any application with "Full Internet Access" permission to access all your photos too.

As a result, I've currently lost faith in the security of my device, and in Android itself.

The relative lack of update availability for these devices doesn't help that - it's like Windows without Windows Update, like Java without Java Update, Flash without Flash Update. Danger!

See http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/android-photos/

[Anonymous Coward]

For me personally the novelty of looking up apps on marketplace wore off after about 2 weeks, I have enough crap games to kill enough bored train journeys. There are a few useful apps, SwiftKey replacement keyboard, Photographer's Ephemeris and the MetOffice weather app.Once in a blue moon I will go to the marketplace to see if anything useful has turned up but the last time I logged manually as opposed to getting updates, was about 5 weeks ago now.

Call the store whatever you like but the truth is that 99% of the apps on both Google and Apple's stores ( I jumped from a iPhone to an SGS2 about 5 months ago ) are just complete and utter bollocks and a waste of everyone's time!

[Anonymous Coward]

for 6 year olds indeed

The 'utter bollocks' comment is about right.

The youths of today always needed a reason for their parents to splash out 500 notes on an fart apps iPhone.

Reality grows up slowly!

[Anonymous Coward 15]

The name "Play"

won't go down well with bosses looking to procure systems for serious business use. Update happened last night on my phone- Play Shop? Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The name "Play"

Let's hope they expand from movies to cover theatre relays as well, that way I can watch a play from (google) play on my (xperia) play!

[Graham O'Brien]

Got neither

Android Market disappeared this morning - no Google Play. Rebooted x2 - still zilch.

Somewhat disgruntled Galaxy II fanboi here.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Got neither

Install Amazon's more sensible named AppStore instead.

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, but will it be regional free?

while I do have the bandwidth to download and/or stream movies and music, digital store won't sell to me because I currently live in one of those "other" countries.

so will this place be regional free, or once again, to selected countries?

as it is, opening the page in FireFox show me a different site from what the screenshot in the article shows. To me, I only see "My Android App" tap; music, book and movies tabs are missing!

[ASM]

Installed Apps

Interestingly, if you go to the website http://play.google.com/about/ and login using the google account you use on your phone, you'll be able to see all the apps installed on your phone ..

well ... almost ..

it shows you all the apps you've EVER installed on your phone, stating they're still installed, even if they aren't !!

So ... an app I installed months ago, and then removed, is still being flagged as Installed on the website.

So ... obviously google keep a record of EVERYTHING you install via Market, and with their new "one privacy policy fits all" approach, they'll probably start using those to target adverts at you !!

[Brent Longborough]

Come back, Eric Schmidt, all is forgiven

They've screwed up Reader.

They've screwed up Picasa and borged the web side into Google+.

Now this. First it damaged Android Market in a way that I could neuther go forard or back, and had to install it manually from an apk. And now I've got it, it's full of fan-kiddies' crap I don't need.

My next phone will be rooted before it leaves the shop. But I don't need all this effing worry. For the first time in my life, Apple looks like a better option. FTW

[BitDr]

This could be bad for Google...

Much time has passed with the 'Android Market' name, it now has value, presence, an identity linked with a concept. I wonder what companies are trying to accomplish when they make these bone-headed decisions. The most (in)famous case I can think of deals with 'Borland Software' renaming themselves to 'Inprise Corporation' in 1998, and then promptly sinking into the swamp of obscurity as the respected and well-known Borland name-brand vanished from the market. Only after being sold to Corel in 2000, was the epically silly 'Inprise' name shredded, replaced with the (by that time) barely remembered 'Borland' in January 2001.

So, what has Google done? Well they've destroyed an identity (marketplace) and replaced it with an activity (Play). A market is a place where one can work OR play, one can find both useful things and recreational activities in a market. Markets are places where you get almost anything. Places of 'Play' are where nothing useful gets done.