You should already know by now that Google has rebranded their mobile store for Android. Instead of Android Market being the one-stop shop for purchasing music, books, apps and rent movies, you now buy them from Google Play and the appropriately named sub-stores: Music, Movies, Books and Android Apps.
I spent most of the day away from the Internet yesterday. That's typically how I spend my Tuesdays. However, I still got the impression – during the five minutes I was on Twitter – that the change wasn't very well received. As Evan stated yesterday, it was an unnecessary change. There was nothing wrong with Android Market, so why "fix it"? Why rebrand something that didn't need rebranding?
To be honest, I'm no more excited about the changes than the next guy. But I completely understand where Google is coming from. Your purchases can be consumed on more platforms than just Android. For example, I can purchase music from my Nexus, yet those very songs and albums are available from MacBook or PC when I use them. The same can be said of books and movie rentals. The only Android-specific purchases in (what used to be) Android Market are Android apps, of course.
Losing the Android moniker was inevitable. Possibly needed, even.
That said, Play is hardly the name I would have chosen if I were in the driver's seat. "Google Play" tells me nothing about what service it entails. If I were a new customer who knew nothing about Android, the Google Play icon would quickly go overlooked. As I've seen it described across the Web several times now, Google Play sounds more like a gaming network, not a digital store for all different types of media. And how "play" pertains to Books I will never understand. I digress.
We may never know why they chose Play. And, oddly enough, it's beginning to grow on me. I saw the changes yesterday and could only cringe. But it's starting to sit well with me, and I actually like the logo. A lot.
The whole thing is being blown out of proportion, as usual. A couple months down the road and we'll never give the Google Play branding second thought. With time, it will likely become just as casual as saying Android Market was. Well, maybe. But the point is that it's just a brand name change. Save for the icon, nothing else has changed.
There's little to complain about, really. They've priced select albums at $3.99 for an entire week. Each day, they will offer a new album for $0.25. And they have chosen 25 awesome applications to offer for $0.49 each. If Google keeps slashing prices for name changes, I won't care if they decide to rename Google Play every month.
If only because I scored eight new games for a whopping $4 (instead of $20 or more) and a few other apps at $0.49 a piece, I'm glad Google introduced Google Play. What say you, folks? We know Evan isn't a fan. It's already growing on me. Where do you stand on Google Play?
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