Android Market is upgrading to GOOGLE PLAY

[Cegal]

I have to agree, "play" makes me think of children. Given I still have a kid side to me that likes to come out, but 9/10 someone with an android phone is getting it for business more than pleasure. I bought my first android for email and internet on the go, the gps wasn't a bad extra either. But here we are now, years after the first "smart phone" and everyone has one. I'm a manager for a chain of convenience stores and it pains me everyday to see all of these 10 year old kids sporting a shiny new $500 piece of equipment that they don't understand how to fully use. Ugh enough of a rant...I hope googlomerates read forums from their customers and get to fixing their image.

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[hAHAha Halo]

Double agree. Play seems childish, and it's not good for business. Bring back Android, I don't want the next phone I buy to say "From Motorola and Verizon, Powered by Google Play"

Just realized something else—who was the Bionic intended for? Look at our preloaded apps. We have all of these BUSINESS apps, and here we are with Google "Play". The situation is getting worse and worse for Google. We have 7 or 8 potential business apps. We have Citrix, GoToMeeting, Mobile Hotspot, Motoprint, Quickoffice, Tasks, and a few other apps can be viewed as apps for business. It's just pathetic having their name changed

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[Scribble]

They're not getting rid of the Android brand... Not sure how or why people came up with that? They're just re-branding the store within which Android Apps are sold. This is a good thing for several reasons:

1. I'd say first and foremost changing the name to Google Play promotes the idea that it's not JUST for Android. It doesn't matter if you have a Mac, a PC, a Linux box.... Google is providing the same thing they do with Gmail. A one stop shop, you can get your music, your books, your videos... It's not just for Android. It's universal. (I noticed a LOT of Apple users suddenly logging on to the store and checking out what they can buy/download, etc...)

2. It pulls it together under one moniker. It's not several different brands they have to support/promote. Instead of Google Books, Google Music, Google Movies, etc... Now it's just Google play and they can market it all together. It eliminates a mental step for users as well. Where can I get that... Google Play! (It works well for iTunes, and Amazon) They could have called it Market but:

3. Play DOES signify a fun atmosphere. It's not just a store. It's a place you want to hang out, it's fun. This is very important when selling stuff like music and movies.

4. Play is also a word people enjoy. People like to play. I can almost bet they're hoping that we start to associate that with shopping at their store, just like people eventually just started "Googling" things instead of searching for them.

As for it not being very business like. I really don't think that matters. Business Tech is starting to swing towards user driven. Instead of the IT Dept telling you what phone you can have, the user tells the IT dept what phone they have, and want to use. If they can capture you outside of work, you're more likely to use it for work as well.

 

[rsforkner]

I don't buy music.
I don't buy videos.
I rarely buy books.

When I want a specific app I have to search through a page of gaudy graphics looking for the app button before I can start looking for what I want. If I forget to touch the app button I get pages of stuff to look through hunting for what I want. And, often most of the stuff in the list isn't even close to what I was searching for. I often wonder how they came up with some items on the list since they has no relevance to my search key words. I mean, not even close.

I'm just saying...

Bob

 

[Scribble]

You're kind of becoming the minority though- more and more people are buying digital books and movies, and music is kind of hard to find in anything but MP3 form these days.

Google wants to be a place where people can buy all that stuff, and they don't want it to be just Android users.

 

[k1ngr4t]

They're not getting rid of the Android brand... Not sure how or why people came up with that? They're just re-branding the store within which Android Apps are sold. This is a good thing for several reasons:

1. I'd say first and foremost changing the name to Google Play promotes the idea that it's not JUST for Android. It doesn't matter if you have a Mac, a PC, a Linux box.... Google is providing the same thing they do with Gmail. A one stop shop, you can get your music, your books, your videos... It's not just for Android. It's universal. (I noticed a LOT of Apple users suddenly logging on to the store and checking out what they can buy/download, etc...)

2. It pulls it together under one moniker. It's not several different brands they have to support/promote. Instead of Google Books, Google Music, Google Movies, etc... Now it's just Google play and they can market it all together. It eliminates a mental step for users as well. Where can I get that... Google Play! (It works well for iTunes, and Amazon) They could have called it Market but:

3. Play DOES signify a fun atmosphere. It's not just a store. It's a place you want to hang out, it's fun. This is very important when selling stuff like music and movies.

4. Play is also a word people enjoy. People like to play. I can almost bet they're hoping that we start to associate that with shopping at their store, just like people eventually just started "Googling" things instead of searching for them.

As for it not being very business like. I really don't think that matters. Business Tech is starting to swing towards user driven. Instead of the IT Dept telling you what phone you can have, the user tells the IT dept what phone they have, and want to use. If they can capture you outside of work, you're more likely to use it for work as well.

I don't think anyone was arguing they were getting rid of the Android brand. It seems most people's complaints are with the childish name. And the new "play store," two words instead of the simple one word "market", is extremely overwhelming. No it's not as complicated as some make it out to be, but it's still beyond simplification and organization like the older markets were. You're right about 3 and 4 though, only, they didn't do it so we would have fun. They did it to draw in a larger audience, solely on the basis of marketing. Changes to improve a marketing base means more money, which ultimately means they did this simply for the money. This is simple business marketing. Change the name to something fun and hope people love it. Like somebody said it's always been targeted towards the business savvy, now they want kids and teens in on the action so they changed it to "play store," which just sounds awkward to me. And if you spent $300 on your phone for work, play is not an attractive word. If you're an adult who is always on the go, not necessarily just for work, then play can almost seem to be in mock. It's clearly trying to appeal to a younger audience.

I can almost guarantee if they had changed the name to something cool and slick, not cliche and childish, this thread would be full of way more praise than criticism; after all, the goal was to simplify everything they offer, not just an app store, and overall they did a good job (still too many ads for apps on the main pages though IMO). Regardless of anything either of us said though, I don't think anyone is really upset over selling out or the market itself or reasoning behind it, just the way they handled it and what they named it and getting rid of the Android dude. Superficial complaints, but the superficial is what people will notice the most.

 

[brad92]

Who would read a book on a cell phone? I tried and it sucks...

X

 

[aaf709]

2. It pulls it together under one moniker. It's not several different brands they have to support/promote. Instead of Google Books, Google Music, Google Movies, etc... Now it's just Google play and they can market it all together. It eliminates a mental step for users as well. Where can I get that... Google Play! (It works well for iTunes, and Amazon) They could have called it Market but:

Are you saying it's a good thing for a company to "dumb it down?" Is thinking so hard that we need to eliminate a "mental step?"

The name may work well for iTunes and Amazon, I agree there, but are they planning to change their name just because you can get more there? Is iTunes changing to "Granny's Apple Pizzazz?"

Maybe the name should've been "Google Superstore." Well, despite the name change, I won't be looking for play there.

Who would read a book on a cell phone? I tried and it sucks...

X

I have to agree that it isn't the best, but it's workable. In fact, I bought my first eBook last week from Amazon (not the "Play Store"), but only because it wasn't available as a real book.

 

[meishkov]

I can almost guarantee if they had changed the name to something cool and slick, not cliche and childish, this thread would be full of way more praise than criticismt.

Amen. Impossible for anyone to argue against Play sounding childish. There really was no need for it.

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[TatDroid]

Who would read a book on a cell phone? I tried and it sucks...

As 4.5, 4.6, and even 5.0 inch (Galaxy Note) screens get more common you'll see more and more of this.

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