Android users may be spared some headaches, with Google Play now warning them before installing buggy apps.
First spotted by Android Police, Mishaal Rahman tweeted screenshots of a Google Play dialog that warns users when an app they’re about to download has not been performing well on similar hardware.
The feature is a nice addition to the Play Store and should save users some irritation.
Google has launched “Data safety,” a way for Android developers to disclose the data practices and privacy their apps offer.
Apple upended the mobile OS market when it introduced App Tracking Transparency (ATT) in an effort to give users more control over their data and how apps use it. Google soon followed suit, announcing it would implement its own take on a data privacy policy.
The company launched Data safety Monday, providing a way for developers to disclose how their apps use customers’ data.
Starting today, we’re rolling out the Data safety form in Google Play Console. We’ve also listened to your feedback, so to provide developers with additional guidance, we’re sharing helpful information in our Help Center, developer guide, Play Academy course, and more. Following our common protocols, we’ll begin gradual rollout today and expect to expand access to everyone within a couple of weeks.
Data safety information will begin showing up in the Play Store in February, and Google plans to start enforcing it beginning in April.
Google is preparing a major upgrade to the Play Store, adding localized reviews to help individuals make more informed decisions about apps.
Most people rely on ratings when deciding which to app to install versus which one to skip. Unfortunately, given the international reach of many applications, non-localized ratings can cause problems for developers and users alike. The same is true of reviews that don’t differentiate based on device type.
“Ratings help people decide which apps to download and they are taken into consideration for featuring and placement on Play Store,” reads the company’s Android Developers Blog. “But because the app experience can vary depending on the user’s region and device type, aggregate ratings don’t always tell the whole story. That’s why, starting in November 2021, we’re going to change the ratings that individual users see based on where they’re registered, and later in the year what device they’re using.”
The announcement is good news for Android users, and should help users and developers alike.
Ford has named Google its preferred partner in its connected vehicle efforts, also naming Google Cloud as its preferred cloud platform.
Like virtually every other traditional automaker, Ford is under increased pressure to focus on the next generation of data-driven, connected vehicles — an area where Tesla is seen as having a commanding lead. As a result, many automakers are turning to the world’s leading cloud platforms to help them make the transformation.
Ford and Google are forming a new collaborate group, Team Upshift, “that will push the boundaries of Ford’s transformation, unlock personalized consumer experiences, and drive disruptive, data-driven opportunities.”
As part of the partnership, Ford will rely on Google Cloud, and Google’s expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and data. Millions of Ford and Lincoln vehicles across all price points will provide an Android-powered digital experience, along with Google apps and services. Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Play will all be available, with Android making it possible for developers to build additional apps.
“As Ford continues the most profound transformation in our history with electrification, connectivity and self-driving, Google and Ford coming together establishes an innovation powerhouse truly able to deliver a superior experience for our customers and modernize our business,” said Jim Farley, President and CEO of Ford.
“From the first moving assembly line to the latest driver-assist technology, Ford has set the pace of innovation for the automotive industry for nearly 120 years,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. “We’re proud to partner to apply the best of Google’s AI, data analytics, compute and cloud platforms to help transform Ford’s business and build automotive technologies that keep people safe and connected on the road.”
As people all over the world are locked down or under stay-at-home orders, the mobile app market is booming as people look for things to do and ways to stay connected.
According to data released by App Annie, mobile apps saw significant growth in Q1 2020, both in the time spent using them and the money being spent on them. The report found that “Google Play downloads grew 5% year over year to 22.5B, while iOS downloads grew 15% year over year to over 9B new downloads for the quarter. On Google Play non-gaming apps accounted for 55% of all downloads, while on iOS the figure was slightly higher at 65%.”
Similarly, when it comes to purchases, customers “spent over $23.4B through the app stores, the largest quarter ever in terms of consumer spend. There were also over 31B new app downloads, a 15% increase from Q4 2019.”
The report goes on to point out that there was a direct correlation between areas hit with the pandemic and surges in mobile app usage and purchases. The more countries required citizens to shelter-in-place, the more they turned to mobile apps.
The report, while not necessarily surprising or unexpected, is further evidence of the fundamental shift the computing industry has experienced toward mobile apps and services.
Since the U.S. banned Huawei, the company has been cut off from access to Google’s software and services. Now, Google is applying for a license to once again work with the Chinese firm.
Amid the U.S. campaign to isolate Huawei and restrict its access to American intellectual property, companies such as Google have been unable to do business with the telecom company. Huawei’s users have even tried sideloading Google apps to get around the restrictions, prompting the company to warn against the potential security risks of doing so.
According to International Business Times (IBT), “in an interview with DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), Sameer Samat, Android and Google Play Vice President, said that Google has put in an application for a license to resume working with Huawei. However, Samat could not mention details on when a decision on the license application would be taken.”
As IBT points out, Google wouldn’t be the first company to apply for, and succeed in getting, a license to work with Huawei. Microsoft applied for such a license and was granted one in November 2019, allowing Huawei to ship notebooks with Windows preinstalled.
Whatever the issues between the U.S. and Huawei, if Google is successful in getting a license, it will be a big win for Huawei’s customers.
An Android malware application has been discovered reinstalling itself even after a factory reset.
Malwarebytes is a cybersecurity firm that was contacted by an Android user who was having trouble removing a particularly nasty and persistent malware, xHelper. No matter what the user did, the malware kept reinstalling itself, even after a factory reset.
Malwarebytes’ researchers initially thought it might be a preinstalled malware, since the device was not from a mainstream manufacturer. Lesser-known manufacturers have been known to have malware preinstalled on their devices. Even taking that into consideration, however, the malware continued reinstalling.
Ultimately, the researchers realized the reinfections were being triggered by Google Play, even though the malware is not on Google Play. Even when an Android device is reset, unlike applications, files and directories remain. In one of those directories, the researchers found an Android application package (APK) that seemed to be triggered by Google Play. Once triggered, it would install, run and then uninstall itself to minimize the chance of being detected. In those few seconds it was installed, however, it would reinfect the phone with the xHelper malware, which would then install even more malware.
Malwarebytes entire report is well worth a read—especially the instructions on how to remove the malware. It remains to be seen, however, exactly how the malware is using Google Play as a trigger.
Google has announced it paid a record-breaking $6.5 million through its Vulnerability Reward Programs in 2019.
Google’s VRPs rewards security researchers who find and report bugs so the company can address them. According to the company, 2019’s payout doubled what had been paid in any previous single year.
Programs such as this have become a critical tool for companies in the fight against hackers and cybercriminals. By relying on security researchers and “white hat” hackers, companies hope to find security vulnerabilities and bugs before cyber criminals, or “black hats.”
According to Google, “since 2010, we have expanded our VRPs to cover additional Google product areas, including Chrome, Android, and most recently Abuse. We’ve also expanded to cover popular third party apps on Google Play, helping identify and disclose vulnerabilities to impacted app developers. Since then we have paid out more than $21 million in rewards.”
Although $6.5 million is a sizable amount, it pales in comparison to the cost of an exploited security vulnerability or data breach. In fact, according to a study sponsored by IBM Security, the average cost of a single data breach is $3.92 million. In view of the number of bug fixes that $6.5 million facilitated, it seems like quite the bargain.
GoDaddy launched a cool app today called Flare, so that entrepreneurs can gain needed feedback on new business ideas from their friends, experts and other small business owners. Flare is available immediately in the Apple App Store. It will launch in June on Google Play for Android devices.
GoDaddy says that Flare empowers people to share ideas and get guidance from friends, fellow entrepreneurs, and experts in a fun and collaborative way, providing an immediate resource to receive feedback and drive new concepts or ideas forward.
Recently, GoDaddy conducted a study where 67% of their business oriented user base has come up with a concept for a business, product or service, but just 15% actually went passed the idea stage and tried to create a business.
GoDaddy stated, “The biggest barriers for not taking action: people didn’t know what to do next (30 percent) and fear/self-doubt (15 percent). Nearly 55 percent said they regret not taking the next step with an idea.”
“Everyone has ideas, but too often they don’t go anywhere,” said Rene Reinsberg, vice president of Emerging Products at GoDaddy. “We created Flare because we recognized the need for a community where people can get impartial feedback on ideas and connect with others to help them turn those ideas into something meaningful. Whether you’ve just had a fleeting thought and want to explore where you might be able to take it, or you’ve been dreaming of creating your own business your whole life, Flare is the first place to go for someone that wants to take the next step.”
Flare Features:
– A simple, easy-to-use, elegant interface reminiscent of popular social media feeds
– Quickly give feedback by swiping left/right to dismiss or be reminded of an idea if it becomes popular
– Tap on an idea to learn more. Love an idea to follow its progress and shape its direction
– Spread ideas by easily sharing them via social media
– Explore ideas that are nearby
– Quickly poll your followers for directional feedback regarding pricing, desirability, feasibility, among other things
– See all of your followers, across all ideas, and their expertise
– Gauge interest of your followers in being future customers via pledging
– Flare represents the latest example of GoDaddy’s ongoing commitment to develop innovative technologies and products designed to empower entrepreneurs – whether they’re looking to simply get started with a new idea, get online, or grow a business.
Here’s how GoDaddy describes Flare in the iTunes store:
Flare is a social network that connects entrepreneurs to fellow entrepreneurs, potential consumers, investors and experts and creates community around new ideas.
With Flare you can:
– Be an adviser to great ideas
– Give feedback on others’ ideas
– Get feedback for yours to refine it
– Connect with fellow entrepreneurs
– Build relationships with potential customers
– Meet potential investors
– Learn from experts
Google has a new Outsourcing Playbook available for companies who are outsourcing the development of an Android app.
The guide explores topics like pitfalls to avoid, things to do to make the app successful, and how to choose a software development agency. The intro explains:
It’s not always possible to develop an Android app in house; so you may look to an agency to help you create your app. This agency may call itself a systems integrator, mobile/design studio, consultant, dev shop, freelancer, app developer, or mobile specialist among other names.
We’ve seen a wide range in the quality of apps built with the help of an agency. Getting it right is not only about finding an agency that fits well with your organization and its goals, but also building the appropriate skills and culture in your own organization. This playbook will help you do that with its advice, questions to ask, and tips for selecting and working with an agency to build a high quality Android app.
The playbook is available for free right on Google Play. A PDF is also available here.
Image via Google
Google announced the addition of podcasts to Google Play Music. The service will connect users with podcasts based on what they’re doing, how they’re feeling, and what they’re interested in.
It works similarly to how the service’s contextual playlists work.
“People love podcasts,’ says product manager Ilia Malkovitch. “In fact, these days, there are so many podcasts to choose from, it can be hard to pick which one to listen to at any given time. That’s where Google Play Music comes in. Google Play Music already gives you the right kind of music for the right moment—whether you want to have fun at work, prepare for a dance party, or just need to focus—and now, that includes podcasts.”
Malkovitch adds, “Try ‘Learning Something New‘ to talk about at a dinner party and listen to our favorite episodes from Stuff You Should Know or How To Do Everything. Enjoy a Sunday afternoon by “Getting Lost in a Story” with episodes from Radiolab or Reply All, or relax after a long day by “Laughing Out Loud” to Marc Maron’s WTF or Chris Hardwick’s The Nerdist. If you find something you love, subscribe to download the last several episodes automatically on your device or choose to be notified every time a new episode comes out.”
This is obviously good news for businesses with podcasts. If this includes you, you can submit yours to be included at Google’s podcast portal here.
The feature is available on the web now, and is rolling out to Android in the U.S. and Canada.
Images via Google
Google announced that it’s increasing the APK file size limit for Android apps from 50MB to 100MB giving developers more room to work with in creating app experiences with less restriction.
Google does warn, however, that just because you can now make an app bigger, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. It reminds developers to consider things like mobile data connectivity, mobile data caps, app performance, and install time.
“Smartphones are powerful devices that can support diverse tasks from graphically intensive games to helping people get work done from anywhere,” says Kobi Glick from the Google Play team. “We understand that developers are challenged with delivering a delightful user experience that maximizes the hardware of the device, while also ensuring that their users can download, install, and open the app as quickly as possible. It’s a tough balance to strike, especially when you’re targeting diverse global audiences.”
“To support the growing number of developers who are building richer apps and games on Google Play, we are increasing the APK file size limit to 100MB from 50MB,” Glick adds. “This means developers can publish APKs up to 100MB in size, and users will see a warning only when the app exceeds the 100MB quota and makes use of Expansion Files. The default update setting for users will continue to be to auto-updating apps over Wi-Fi only, enabling users to access higher quality apps and games while conserving their data usage.”
Google says it hopes the file size increase is useful and helps developers build higher quality apps and games. The thinking is, in fact, that the news really is all about games. Google has an event on Tuesday, which is expected to delve more into this as well as deliver a new Chromecast device.
Image via Google
Google launched a new Google Wallet app in the Google Play store. It’s a separate app from the existing Google Wallet app that you already know.
In fact, if you search for Google Wallet in the store, you’ll still find the old one. 9to5Google, however, points us to the new one, which is labeled “Google Wallet (New)“. The publication suggests that the old version will likely be converted to Android Pay when that becomes available, and the new one will function as the continuing Google Wallet.
The new one lets you send money to anyone in the U.S. with an email address regardless of whether they have a Wallet account. You can send money directly from your debit card, bank account, or Wallet Balance. You can also use it to manage your Wallet Card, cash out, and keep track of your spending.
On the app’s page in the Google Play Store, Google notes that the Android Pay app is coming soon.
Android Pay was unveiled at Google I/O earlier this year at Google I/O as the company’s answer to Apple Pay. Google described it as “the simple and secure way to pay with your Android phone”. It lets you pay for things in stores as well as in apps. Partners include best Buy, Coca-Cola, GameStop, Jamba Juice, McDonald’s, Macy’s, Pepsi, Office Depot, Staples, Walgreens, Toys R Us, Whole Foods, Domino’s, Dunkin Donuts, Lyft, Groupon, LivingSocial, Etsy, Priceline, Uber, and Chipotle to name a few.
Loyalty programs and special offers are automatically applied at checkout. More on that here.
Images via Google
Google announced improved beta testing for Android apps on Google Play with new features like open beta and closed beta using email addresses.
Google first launched beta testing two years ago, and has been gathering feedback from developers ever since. The Google Play Developer Console lets developers release early versions of their app to select users an an alpha or beta test with the select user group downloading the app on Google Play as normal. They can’t review or rate it on the store, however.
With the new open beta feature, developers can let any user with the right link join with a click. As Google notes, this is helpful for scaling up to larger numbers of testers. You can also limit the max number of users if you wish.
“If you want to restrict which users can access your beta, you have a new option: you can now set up a closed beta using lists of individual email addresses which you can add individually or upload as a .csv file,” says Google Play product manager Ellie Powers. “These users will be able to join your beta via a one-click opt-in link.”
There’s a third option for closed beta with Google+ community or Google Group. This is what was already available. Consider today’s new features another way Google is expanding non-Google+ options across its products. Developers using this option will be able to move to an open beta while maintaining existing users.
According to Google, 80% of developers with popular apps regularly run beta tests as part of their workflow.
According to a recent report from App Annie, Google Play downloads are 85% higher than those from Apple’s App Store.
Image via Google
Earlier this year, Google announced that it was expanding paid search advertising to the Google Play store. Given that people frequently go there to search for apps, this seemed like an obvious place for search ads, and it’s still surprising it’s taken Google this long to offer them to app makers.
Better late than never though. Google has been testing the ads since February, but on Wednesday, announced a full roll-out to all advertisers and developers who use Search app install campaigns on AdWords.
According to Google, Google Play reaches over a billion people on Android devices in over 190 countries, so there’s a lot of potential reach here.
“Search Ads on Google Play can provide consumers new ways to discover apps that they otherwise might have missed and help developers drive more awareness of their apps,” says Surojit Chatterjee, Director of Product Management for Mobile Search Ads at Google.
“As we expand the opportunities for developers to promote their apps, we’re also committed to providing conversion tracking tools that work seamlessly across channels and align with whichever measurement solution a developer chooses to use,” says Chatterjee. “That’s why we’re introducing Android first app opens, a new conversion tracking solution that measures when a user first opens an app after clicking on an ad and completing an Android app install. In addition to providing app conversion tracking across Search, Display and YouTube, this new solution also allows developers to better align the conversion volume they see in AdWords with the data they see in a third-party measurement solution. First app opens are the standard conversion type for third-party solutions, so we’re working with key partners like Tune, AppsFlyer, Kochava, Adjust and Apsalar to ensure data consistency and give developers the freedom to use reporting and optimization features across AdWords and third-party solutions of their choice.”
Google says that Universal App Campaigns will soon (in the coming weeks) make it easier to promote apps on Google Play in addition to Google Search, YouTube, AdMob, and the Google Display Network.
Images via Google
App Annie, an app data service, which is in use by a reported 700,000 apps, released some new data looking at Android vs. iOS apps.
The biggest finding is that in Q2, Google Play’s worldwide downloads were about 85% higher than those from Apple’s App Store. App Annie calls this a significant increase from the 70% gap it saw in Q1. iOS still leads in the revenue department.
Here’s what the top categories by usage look like for both platforms:
Other key findings as relayed by App Annie:
– Even as Germany continues to enjoy stellar year over year growth, Taiwan’s performance in Q2 2015 helped it rocket past Germany in Google Play revenue. Taiwan’s performance in Q2 2015 was almost entirely driven by the Games category.”
– Video streaming apps in China saw explosive revenue growth this quarter, headlined by Youku, iQIYIand Tencent Video.In Q2 2015, apps from these three services also dominated monthly active user rankings of iOS Entertainment apps in China.
You can find the full report here.
App Annie itself recently launched an in-app analytics offering, which is integrated with Google Analytics.
Images via Google, App Annie
Google introduced a new free, ad-supported streaming music service today as one tier of its Google Play Music offering. In doing so, it has opened up new opportunities for advertisers using the Google Display Network.
The service itself basically just lets you listen to curated playlists. It’s radio. We’re not talking on-demand songs like Spotify. More on the consumer service here.
“This new ad-supported version is great for advertisers interested in connecting with consumers through premium content and delightful mobile experiences,” said Google Play Music product manager Elias Roman. “This Google Play Ads inventory is available through the Google Display Network (GDN), which gives advertisers access to engaging and beautiful ad units such as TrueView video ads and Lightbox ads – all mobile-optimized, seamless across screens, and simple to set up. As part of the GDN, advertisers can use keywords, affinity audiences and remarketing to reach the right people at the right time.”
Google already has “many” advertisers utilizing the new music inventory, including Omnicom.
Steve Katelman, EVP of Global Strategic Partnerships at Omnicom had this to say about it: “We want to reach customers where they’re spending the most time, so music is a critical part of our media mix. As a launch partner for Google Play Music, Omnicom Media Group can offer our clients an invaluable head start in delivering engaging, high-impact brand messages on mobile and the web to music-loving consumers.”
Advertisers interested in getting in on this action can simply set up a campaign in AdWords or DoubleClick Bid Manager.
Image via YouTube
At Google I/O on Thursday, Google announced a developer preview of the next version of Android, the M Release as well as related tools.
Google says the release focuses on improving the core user experience of Android, including thousands of bug fixes and making big changes to the fundamentals.
For one, users are getting more control over permissions.
“Apps can trigger requests for permissions at runtime, in the right context, and users can choose whether to grant the permission,” explains Android product manager Jamal Eason. “Making permission requests right when they’re needed means users can get up and running in your app faster. Also, users have easy access to manage all their app permissions in settings. On M, as a developer, you should design your app to prompt for permissions in context and account for permissions that don’t get granted. As more devices upgrade to M, app permission behavior will be a critical development flow to test.”
Continuing the theme of some of other announcements the company has made this week, it’s also making it easier to link between apps. Developers can now add an autoVerify attribute to the app manifest so users can be linked deep into their native app without any disambiguation prompt.
There are also battery life improvements, most notably through a new feature called Doze.
“With M, Android uses significant motion detection to learn if a device has been left unattended for a while,” says Eason. “In this state, Android will exponentially back off background activity, trading off a little bit of app freshness for longer battery life. Consider how this may affect your app; for instance, if you’re building a chat app, you may want to make use of high priority messages to wake your app when the device is dozing.”
Google announced Android Pay at the event, and this includes support for fingerprint security on M.
M also provides a new feature called Now on Tap, which is basically a new way to interact with Google Now. You can ask it for help related to the various information it provides, and developers can implement Google’s App Indexing for search to let users discover and re-engage with apps through the new feature.
Aparna Chennapragada, Director of Product Management, talks more about this feature in a blog post on the Inside Search blog:
We’re working to make Google Now a little smarter in the upcoming Android M release, so you can ask it to assist you with whatever you’re doing—right in the moment, anywhere on your phone. With “Now on tap,” you can simply tap and hold the home button for assistance without having to leave what you’re doing—whether you’re in an app or on a website. For example, if a friend emails you about seeing the new movie Tomorrowland, you can invoke Google Now without leaving your app, to quickly see the ratings, watch a trailer, or even buy tickets—then get right back to what you were doing.
If you’re chatting with a friend about where to get dinner, Google can bring you quick info about the place your friend recommends. You’ll also see other apps on your phone, like OpenTable or Yelp, so you can easily make a reservation, read reviews or check out the menu. When you tap and hold the home button, Google gives you options that are a best guess of what might be helpful to you in the moment. But if you need something specific, you can also get Google to help by saying “Ok Google” from any screen, and any app. For example, if you’re listening to Twenty One Pilots on Spotify, you can say “Ok Google, who’s the lead singer” and get your answer right away.
As far as new developer tools, Google announced the launch of the Android Studio v1.3 preview, the Android Design Support Library, and Google Play Services v7.5.
Eason says of the Android Studio preview, “Most notable is a much requested feature from our Android NDK & game developers: code editing and debugging for C/C++ code. Based on JetBrains Clion platform, the Android Studio NDK plugin provides features such as refactoring and code completion for C/C++ code alongside your Java code. Java and C/C++ code support is integrated into one development experience free of charge for Android app developers. Update to Android Studio v1.3 via the Canary channel and let us know what you think.”
“Making Material design apps gets even easier with the new Android Design support library,” he says. “We have packaged a set a key design components (e.g floating action button, snackbar, navigation view, motion enabled Toolbars) that are backward compatible to API 7 and can be added to your app to create a modern, great looking Android app without building everything from scratch.”
The new version of Google Play Services includes Smart Lock for Passwords, new APIs for Google Cloud Messaging and Google Cast, and the Google Maps API on Android Wear devices.
The Android M preview obviously includes an updated SDK. You can find out more about all of it here.
Images via Google
Google has partnered with Lionsgate on an interactive Mad Men retrospective as the acclaimed series nears its final episode. Fans can go to madmen.withgoogle.com to get a look over 300 pieces of content released for the first time in digital format. This includes artwork, interviews, audio commentaries, etc.
This is the first time Google Play has offeredany kind of a TV show digital fan experience. It will be showcased at the Television Academy’s “A Farewell to Mad Men” event with the show’s cast and crew in LA on May 17.
“Our partnership with Google Play reflects our continuing commitment to create and deliver cutting edge content that extends our brands for fans and newcomers alike to discover for years to come,” said Lionsgate EVP of Marketing Anne Parducci. “The Mad Men Experience transports a ground-breaking show to a new level by infusing its representation of 1960’s Madison Avenue with state-of-the-art technology.”
“Mad Men has captivated audiences and placed them squarely in the cocktail culture of mid-century Madison Avenue. As die-hard fans ourselves, we’re excited to collaborate with Lionsgate to share this unique Mad Men experience that gives everyone a chance to explore and interact with each season on Google Play long after the series concludes,” said Jessica Igoe, Global Media and Content Partnership Marketing for Google Play.
As part of the release, fans can watch episode one on Google Play for free for a limited time. All seven seasons are available for purchase of course.
You can explore by season, character or theme.
Check it out here.
The final episode airs Sunday.
Images via Google
Google announced a couple of updates for Google Play, which will affect both developers and users. There’s a new content rating system as well as a new app review process.
The content rating system is based on age, and applies to both apps and games. According to the company, it will help developers communicate “familiar and locally relevant” content ratings to users while also helping to improve app discovery.
“We know that people in different countries have different ideas about what content is appropriate for kids, teens and adults, so today’s announcement will help developers better label their apps for the right audience,” says product manager Eunice Kim.
Developers can fill out a rating questionnaire for their apps and games, and they’ll get an “objective” content rating. It will be interesting to see if this actually hurts some apps. Just ask filmmakers how they feel about the MPAA rating system. If a developer doesn’t immediately complete the questionnaire, their apps will be listed as unrated, and that can lead to them being blocked some places and for some users. Beginning in May, all apps and updates of existing apps will require the questionnaire be completed to be published on Google Play.
“Google Play’s new rating system includes official ratings from the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) and its participating bodies, including the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), Pan-European Game Information (PEGI), Australian Classification Board, Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) and Classificação Indicativa (ClassInd),” Kim explains. “Territories not covered by a specific ratings authority will display an age-based, generic rating. The process is quick, automated and free to developers. In the coming weeks, consumers worldwide will begin to see these new ratings in their local markets.”
To complete the questionnaire, just sign into the Developer Console.
Regarding the app review process, Google started reviewing them before they’re published on Google Play a few months ago. The company says this is a better way to protect users and improve its catalog. Google has a team of “experts,” who spot violations of Android’s developer policies earlier on.
“We value the rapid innovation and iteration that is unique to Google Play, and will continue to help developers get their products to market within a matter of hours after submission, rather than days or weeks,” says Kim. “In fact, there has been no noticeable change for developers during the rollout.”
Google has now added improvements to how it handles publishing status, so developers can better see why apps are rejected or suspended, and can take care of the issues and resubmit. This goes for “minor” policy violations, Google says.
The company claims it has paid over $7 billion to developers.
Last month, Google announced paid search results on Google Play, which will definitely help with app discovery (while giving the company another revenue stream). Of course this only available to a limited set of users from a pilot group of advertisers for the time being. It remains to be seen if and when (most likely when) this will become available on a broader scale.
Image via Google
One of the hottest generic TLDs up for grabs by some of the Internet’s biggest companies was .App. According to reports, Google has now won that TLD, and is paying a whopping $25 million for it.
According to Domain Name Wire, that’s likely a record-breaking price for a TLD, and Google has been battling 12 other companies, including Amazon, for its rights. With those rights, Google will now be able to offer other businesses access to domains that end in .app, just as they have started doing with other domains. Domain Name Wire reports:
With the domain in hand, it’s possible Google can limit registrations to companies that have an app in Google Play, or use the domains to point directly to app listings in the store. However, its application suggests that it will allow the domain name to be more universally used:
The mission of the proposed gTLD, .app, is to provide a dedicated domain space for application developers. The term “app” is associated with a wide variety of applications, including mobile applications, web- and browser-based applications, cloud-hosted applications and even desktop applications. Charleston Road Registry expects uses of the gTLD will include a wide variety of uses across all of these types of applications, not limited to any specific platform or provider. The proposed gTLD will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space in which application developers can deliver new content and offerings. It also creates new layers of organization on the Internet and signals the kind of content available in the domain.
Google Registry has so far launched three TLDs including .soy (for U.S. Hispanics), .みんな (in Japanese), and most recently, .how, which it describes as a domain for teaching. We delved more into that one here.
The Google Registry site lists TLDs that are “coming next,” and these include: .DAD, .ESQ, .HERE, .MEME, .PROF, .ZIP, .ADS, .DAY, .FLY, .MOV, .RSVP, .BOO, .EAT, .FOO, .ING, and .NEW. The company actually already has descriptions for what each of these are for:
.App is absent from that list, but it’s possible that Google simply hasn’t added it yet because it just won it. It will be interesting to see if it is added to the list soon, because if it’s not, that would suggest that Google intends to keep it for itself for something like what Domain Wire mentioned.
It seems likely that Google would sell the domains to third-parties, however, as it could make money on what could be a coveted new TLD that way. The app ecosystem only continues to grow massively, and Google’s own efforts are fostering that growth on Android.
Earlier this week, Google announced that it is expanding paid search into the Google Play store, which will give Google a new (yet familiar) revenue stream, and give apps more opportunities for discoverability.
That’s only in pilot testing mode now, but I don’t really see a scenario in which this doesn’t become an available offering to everyone down the road.
Google also announced that it is making some changes to how it ranks content in mobile search results. It’s factoring in mobile-friendly content for one. It’s also using information from indexed apps as a signal for signed-in users who have the apps installed on their devices.
On the domains front, Google opened up Google Domains in the U.S. last month.
Image via Google