Android Market rebrands to Google Play

Google is rebranding the Android Market as Google Play to better emphasise the entertainment slant to its app offering in the hope of increasing downloads of paid-for media to better compete with Amazon and Apple.

Google Play

The marketplace will become a portal for users to download and interact with their music, films, books and apps from their phones, tablets and elsewhere on the web. Content is accessible from any Android device or desktop computer.

A greater emphasis will be placed on sharing content than the previous Android Market, with users encouraged to post about the media they are interacting with on Google+, e-mail, or text message, via a single-click button.

The cloud-based platform allows users in the US to store up to 20,000 songs for free, while UK customers can rent films, purchase e-books and download apps in a familiar way to the previous Android Market.

Jamie Rosenberg, Google’s director of digital content, says in a blog post: “Our long-term goal is to roll out as many different types of content as possible to people around the world, and we’ll keep adding new content to keep it fresh.”

Users’ Android Market apps will be upgraded in the coming days.

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