Google Play

Google Play, originally the Google Play Store or Android Market, is a digital distribution platform operated by Google. It serves as the official app store for the Android operating system, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android SDK and published through Google. Google Play also serves as a digital media store, offering music, magazines, books, movies, and television programs. It previously offered Google hardware devices for purchase until the introduction of a separate online hardware retailer, Google Store, on March 11, 2015.^[1]

Applications are available through Google Play either free of charge or at a cost. They can be downloaded directly to an Android or Google TV device through the Play Store mobile app, or by deploying the application to a device from the Google Play website.^[2] Many applications can be targeted to specific users based on a particular hardware attribute of their device, such as a motion sensor (for motion-dependent games) or a front-facing camera (for online video calling).

Google Play was launched on March 6, 2012, with the merger of Android Market, Google Music, and Google eBookstore, marking a shift in Google's digital distribution strategy.^[3] The services operating under the Google Play banner are: Google Play Music, Google Play Books, Google Play Newsstand, Google Play Movies & TV, and Google Play Games. The Google Play store has reached over 1.43 million apps published^[4] and over 50 billion downloads.^[5]

An update was applied to the Google Play Store in April of 2013 which had been the changeover from the old, rather cumbersome, Google Play Store, which had been known to be sort of mismatched in the way the information, applications, books etc. were presented. The main change which came with the update of the Google Play Store in 2013 was aesthetics, changing the background of the play store to a lighter background, with many of the features that had previously been available mainly not receiving any sort of changes. Another visual change which had been presented in the update in 2013 had been when a user is searching for an application, the added the three vertical dots next to the application. The main reason for adding the three dots is as an option page which allowed the users to download the application without actually having to visit the page for the application, which would save time for the users. And the final noteworthy change to the Google Play Store was that they had taken the extremely cluttered pages and added a new card presentation of the applications, presenting the user with 4-6 applications at a time rather than 20 applications at a time. ^[6]

^{From Wikipedia}