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Google Moves To Upgrade App Store, Aims To Help Developers Bolster Revenue (reuters.com)
Google plans to double down on its efforts to help developers of Android apps build their businesses as concerns mount that the app economy has reached saturation. The company is sharpening Google Play store recommendations with AI and expanding support for various payment platforms, among other initiatives, reports Reuters, citing company's top executive. From the article:Many smartphone users, meanwhile, appear to have tired of downloading apps altogether, especially as messaging services like Snapchat perform more of the functions that once required a separate app. Games remain a focus of the Google Play store, and Nintendo is building a version of its popular Super Mario Run game for Android, said Sameer Samat, who leads product management for the Google Play store. The store is also expanding to new platforms, including wearable devices, virtual reality headsets and Google's Chromebook laptops. "What we are excited about is giving developers that single entry point for more and more of the computing ecosystem," said Samat. Google has eased the once-complicated process of developing apps for the Play store, said James Knight, a former Google employee who launched Pembroke, a consultancy that helps developers convert Apple-compatible iOS apps to Android. A big part of Google's new effort involves emerging markets, where Android is stronger relative to the iPhone. To improve app recommendations for users, the Play store has also made extensive use of machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence that gleans insights from vast troves of data.
>> concerns mount that the app economy has reached saturation
This was always a zero-sum game. I've owned ten different Android phones and four tablets now. I'm still waiting for the first time I actually need to *purchase* an app (or in-app content).
The whole point of "app stores" is to get developers to write apps for a platform, and then for competing apps to beat the price down to zero, thus providing the original platform provider and its users with (essentially) free apps. From what I see it's working perfectly as designed.
How is that different from your PC? When is it the last time you bought a Web browser, a ZIP utility, a SSH client, a text editor, a messaging client or a media player? Never, right? Why do people expect it to be any different on phones?
Phone app stores were like gold rushes. There was some money to make at the very beginning but it wasn't meant to last.
What they should do is really try to remove shovel apps that try to use any new popular app with a similar name to get installed. If tomorrow an app called Pork Pig started to get news coverage, I'll search in Google Play and find several similar apps, like Pork Pig Guide, Pork Pink, etc, etc.