And just like that the Android Market is now called Google Play, which in turn will be more than just an online store for Android apps and games. With Google Play you can also buy e-books, music, and rent movies in addition to buying apps and games found in the Android Market. Don’t know why they named it Google Play in the first place since it’s not just for gaming.
Anyway, Google Play breaks the barrier between the PC and Android devices as this allows you to access whatever you bought from the Google Play store into your Android phones, tablets or the web. Google does this by harnessing the power of the cloud. We’ve already seen it with Google eBookstore and Google Music where your music and e-book library is in their cloud and they’re consolidating it in one place called Google Play. Don’t worry, you still have the option to download it for offline listening, viewing or reading. You can also give your Google+ friends a free listen on whatever music you want to share.
What’s nice with the cloud solution, especially in books, is that you can start a book on your PC, continue it on your phone, and finish it on your tablet without skipping a beat. Same thing with music (which I’ve been doing a lot), you can sync your Google Music to all your Android phones over the cloud so you can enjoy all your songs anywhere without having to be near your main PC.
Along with these new content, there are also new corresponding Google Play apps to handle them. Be sure to install the Google Play Music, Google Play Video, and Google Play Books app when it becomes available.
And to celebrate the launch of Google Play, Google is having an amazing week of savings called their “œ7 Days to Play” celebration! An example would be Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. 2: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance & Asphalt 6: Adrenaline games which is available for the rock bottom price of $0.49 only (that would be P2o.99 for us!) when Google Play becomes live.
Right now Google Play is not yet fully-global. It still has country restrictions to get the the full experience:
- 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
Know more about the features of Google Play.