Google Play, Mobile Ads and AdBlocking: The Macro View
Tuesday, July 19, 2016 by Janis Zech
Google quietly rolled out an update to the Play Store a few months ago, but the change sent ripples through the entire mobile developer community: the company started clearly labeling the apps that include ads. It’s a small change, but one that has greater implications for every participant in the mobile app ecosystem - from developers and end users, to mobile ad platfo...
Updates Made to Google Play Developer Policy Center
Wednesday, March 9, 2016 by Richard Harris
When you have one of the two largest app marketplaces in the world, it’s a tall order when making sure there is an ongoing positive experience for both users and app developers. The is the responsibility the Google Play team and its Developer Program Policies face in maintaining an app ecosystem through educating the Android developer community and defining appropriate ...
Android Developers Can Now Do Staged Rollouts of Google Play Apps
Saturday, August 1, 2015 by Richard Harris
Google has announced new functionality to help developers beta test their Android apps. Currently, the Google Play Developer Console lets developers release early versions of an app to selected users as an alpha or beta test before pushing updates to full production (much like Apple's TestFlight). The select user group downloads the app on Google Play as normal, bu...
Google Play Updates Offer New Opportunities for Developers to Acquire Users
Tuesday, June 9, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
At Google I/O new tools to help developers monetize through Google Play were announced including those to help grow an app business, improve decision making based on smarter insights, and better engage user bases with more relevant content.Among the announcements were:App Install Ads: With the new app install ads developers will be able to quickly set up ad campaigns fr...
Play Games Player Analytics Are Now Live On The Google Play Developer Console
Wednesday, April 8, 2015 by Richard Harris
At the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Google announced its new Play Games Player Analytics service, a set of free reports to help developers manage their games business and understand in-game player behavior. Now the service has officially been released and is available through the Google Play Developer Console.Developers whose game is integrated with Google Play gam...
Google at GDC 2015 Launches New Tools for Android Development Monetization, Analytics and TV
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
Google has introduced new tools and features for Android developers at its Developer Day during the Game Developers Conference. The new offerings include analytics for Google Play Games, new advertising options for AdMob and a Nearby Connections API for Android TV. Google has introduced Player Analytics, giving developers access to Android analytics repor...
Google to Host Developer Day Including Code Labs at GDC 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015 by Richard Harris
Google’s GDC Developer Day will take place in Room 2006 of the West Hall of Moscone Center on Monday, March 2. The schedule will include:Opening Keynote - 10AM: Google will kick off the day by sharing how to make games more successful with Google. You’ll hear about new platforms, new tools to make development easier, and ways to measure your mobile games and moneti...
New Analyze Guide for Integrating Google Play Analytics Available
Monday, January 26, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
To help Android developers leverage Google Analytics, Google has created a new "Analyze" section on the Android Developers website which provides guidance on how to design a measurement plan and implement in-app analytics including features only available between Google Play and Google Analytics.The following guidelines are provided in the Analyze section:- Getting Star...
Google Play Game Services Gets New Publishing API, Updated Unity Plugin, and Leaderboard Tamper Protection
Saturday, December 27, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
The Google Play games services (GPGS) has announced several new developer tools including a new Game Services Publishing API, a revamped Unity Plugin, additional enhancements to the C++ SDK, and improved Leaderboard Tamper Protection.New Game Publishing APIAt Google I/O this past June, Google Play Developer Publishing APIs were launched to automate the configuration and...
Secrets for Android Developers on Launching Apps on Google Play
Sunday, November 16, 2014 by Richard Harris
The numbers are hard to ignore - 50 billion apps and games downloaded and $5 billion over the last year to developers. So what is the secret to success launching apps on Google Play? I don’t imagine Google is giving away insider company secrets, however they have put together a new publication called “The Secrets to App Success on Google Play.” They are promoting t...
Android Developers Can Now Publish Apps for Android TV
Thursday, November 13, 2014 by Richard Harris
The Google Dev Team has announced that Android developers can now publish apps for Android TV on Google Play. The team has provided guidance on how to get started building apps for Android TV on a recent blog post.Android TV apps must meet the basic requirements for usability. When an app meets these requirements, users will be able to discover and download it dire...
New Services for App Developers and Publishers Announced at Google IO
Thursday, June 26, 2014 by Richard Harris
One of the new services announced at Google I/O was the Google Play Developer Publishing API to help scale release operations. The new API will let developers upload APKs, manage in-app products and localized store listings. There will also be the ability to integrate publishing operations with release processes and toolchain through a RESTful API. This the Go...
New Google Play Services Are Rolling Out for Game App Developers
Monday, March 17, 2014 by Richard Harris
With GDC at full steam already this week, Google has kicked off the week announcing new services for its Google Play developer program including the new game gifts incentive program and enhanced engagement and discovery options.Highlights of the New Offerings- Google is introducing game gifts, a new service that lets players send virtual in-game obje...
Google Helps App Developers With New Gaming Tools
Tuesday, December 17, 2013 by Richard Harris
Google has responded to the push for more and easier gaming development tools with the several new assitions including open sourcing of a 2D physics library and new features to the Google Play game services offering, such as a plug-in for Unity.
The open-source release of LiquidFun offers a new C++ 2D physics library that makes it easier for developers to add rea...
Google App Translation Service Moves Past Pilot Phase to General Availability
Monday, November 11, 2013 by Richard Harris
Google has announced that its App Translation Service, which was first previewed at this year’s Google I/O conference, has moved past the pilot stage into general availability for all developers.
The service allows developers to purchase professional app translations through the Google Play Developer Console. To use the App Translation Service, developers will want to ...
Developers Need to Pay Attention to Upcoming Google Play Store Tablet Changes
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
It’s a big deal! Google’s changes to the Google Play store could have major ramifications for app developers.
In a blog post Google announced it will be flipping the switch on the changes on November 21, which will cause tablet users to default to see top lists of apps and games that are designed specifically for tablets. Users can change the view to see all apps, but ...
Game Developers Now Get More from Google Play Games
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
Games are where the money’s at and Android is the 800 lb gaming gorilla in the room!
Developers now have a couple of new features in Google Play Games to help understand player’s usage of games and provide more access to game date in Google cloud.
The Google Play Developer Console now has stats about game player activity in the console. Also, game service aler...
Private Android Play stores open for businesses
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 by Richard Harris
Need to release an Android app internally for your business? Now you can with the extended ability of the Google Android Play store with a service named Google Play Private Channel. You will need to have a Google Apps for Business, Education or Government account domain. A Google Apps administrator must enable the Google Play Developer Console for e...
