Google Play

Google Play (former Android Market) is a Google store that allows Android device owners to install and purchase various applications, games, books, music, and movies. Similar to Apple’s App Store for iOS applications.

October 22, 2008, Google announced the opening of an online app store for Android OS - Android Market. App developers for the Android Market receive 70% of the profits, the remaining 30% goes to paying and maintaining billing, as well as taxes, while Google itself does not receive any profit from the sale of applications. Google Play was the result of the Android Market portal rebranding on March 6, 2012.

A developer account that allows you to publish applications costs $25. Paid apps can be published only by developers from certain countries.

In late July 2017, the Play Market gets the built-in antivirus - Google Play Protect.

On Google Play, you can find many applications. There are both paid and free apps. According to the data for September 2017, Google Play contains over 2.9 million Android apps. Users from more than 145 countries can buy applications that have up to 122 localized versions.

The number of downloads has reached 83 billion. But at the same time, users complain that the store often contains low-quality programs (about 13%), and malware also occurs. Despite the fact that the number of smartphones on the Android platform exceeds 400 million, Google Play loses the App Store for developer revenues.

Users may pay for the content by one of the following payment methods:

Credit or debit cards (American Express, MasterCard, Visa, a number of others);
Google Wallet (US and UK);
Direct mobile operator billing;
Gift cards and promotional codes;

Since May 2014, users can pay in Google Play with PayPal.

The set of payment methods depends on the country and region.

Additional Terms

AppStore BYOA (Build your own application) CRUD

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