We've gotten more than a few e-mails today from folks wondering where the heck their Android Market app has gone and run off to. (Don't laugh, it's perfectly OK to take a day off from obsessing over Android news.)
If you missed the news yesterday, the Android Market is now the Google Play Store. Or, rather, everything that was in the Android Market is now a part of Google Play, and you get to it all through the Play Store. Or something like that. We're still trying to decide exactly how to phrase all this without having to take a second breath.
Anyhoo. Just look for the Play Store icon you see above. Same goes for Google Books, and Google Movies. And Google Music. And Play Books. And Play Movies. And Play Music. Just the same, only different.
Reader comments
Reminder: The Android Market is now the Play Store
Solo quiero que habrá
so in french speaking countries is it called "jouerie"?
I'm deleting all my free apps, and freezing my vending APK because of the name change. If you don't like the name change, I suggest you do too. http://pastebin.com/FZrUFVcU
Maybe you already know this, but here in the UK it is called the "Play Shop" not Play Store. I guess it is more localized, we don't really use the word Store. Also I received the update about an hour after it was announced. unlocked Nexus S, so that could explain speedy upgrade.
I'm on T-Mo's MT4G and I did accept the ToS, no update and I am not rushing to get it either. I am all for Google Market as a suggestion for the new name. Guess it just isn't going to happen. *sigh*
So unnecessary! ... just got a text from verizon explaining the change..
Same here. Verizon must be getting a lot of calls from confused people. Not surprising considering the new name.
Samsung Charge. Still no update and yes...the name is ridiculous.
Anyone who wants to get the update now instead of waiting for it to be pushed to your device can follow these simple steps. They worked for me on my DX running CM7
1) Go to applications under the settings menu and select the Android Market
2) Force stop, wipe application data, and uninstall updates to the Market
3) relaunch the android market and after a minute or so it should update.
Like I said, worked for me
I have gotten the Google Play Music update, but not the Market update. I'm on a CDMA GNex running CM9.
I think it should be Google market as stated before come on Google I'm going to play my Titanium back up or that Stephen king book??????
Awful awful name
Seriously Google !!!!!
You could have called it
Gstore
or Gmarket
oNot this silly name
Does anyone have a apk for this... Im running Go Launcher Ex on an unrooted moto photon.. I cant find it at all... Smh... >___<
I can't take credit for this someone posted it in another thread but if you want the old market icon back on your phone, here you go:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ipaulpro.market&featur.....
It's free and requires NO PERMISSIONS to run
Not a fan. The name is stupid. Android Market sounded more official.
When will we see "Google Play Mail" "Google Play Plus" "Google Play Docs" "Google Play Maps" "Google Play Analytics" etc.
I still have Android Market on my Galaxy Nexus.
Same here.
Guess all those lightening fast updates cause it's a nexus doesn't apply to the galaxy nexus :)
Same (and also on the GNexus). And I've even opened the Market app and agreed to the Play terms of service, but no update. Very weird.
Same. I've got a NS4G, but I had a prompt pop up and ask me to accept the new TOS or whatever, but then nothing changed, even after a reboot. Hmmm...
Honestly the Play store in many ways just sounds dirty.
Still no update to my Market app on my DX, although the movies and music app have updated.
I hate the new icons. The Google Play Music icon and the Books icon are terrible. They make my eyes bleed. If this is indicative of where Android is heading with their design schemes then I will be look at Windows Phone 7 when the Verizon LTE versions come out.
They suck, but are you really jumping ship over some icons?
I'm not jumping now but if that is the design path that they are going to take with other parts of the Android OS then I will. I've been on Android since the G1 and love the OS but don't really want an OS that is cartoony like some of those new icons are. It would make sense to a degree that if they are changing those icons like that then other parts of the OS will follow.
They should have called it Market+
This would match their newest product Google+
It seems Google already got something out of it. They managed to get me to post a rant in that useless ghost town known as Google+ about how idiotic the re-branding is, especially from the Android brand perspective.
Wow. Goo-goo-google is really going for the kindergarten imagery. A play-dough themed logo, dessert names, a blanket approach to your media and communications, and now a play store. How does it run on your binky?
Clearly it should have been the gSpot. Regardless, it's not hard to find or use.
Banner at the bottom of the Market said "Play The Hunger Games". Clicked it thinking I would get a movie trailer... It took me to the book store :( I didn't know you could play books?
The only people that play books are diehard blackberry fans
Awful name. It's practically like calling it Google Play Happy Fun Time Store.
Got the update last night. For all practical purposes it works the same. But that name! It sounds so childish and reminds me of some Fisher Price thing I'd find at Toys R US! :( Mommy, can I go to the Play Store, please?
I also don't like the icon. I miss my little droid buddy on my homescreen. I'll be downloading the old icon and changing it back tonight.
In 3 months no one will even remember it was called the Market. All new users will never know it was called something different. Soon everyone will just refer to it as the "store" much like now, everyone refers to it as the "market" instead of "android market"...
Relax everyone. Last I checked our phones aren't going to spontaneously combust... even though sometimes my battery does get exceptionally hot... hmmmmmm
People will know I am old school and mean business since I will forever refer to it as the Market.
Or they'll know you can't handle change....
Who wants to change for the Worse? The market should not be known as a play store. It stinks. How does calling it Google Play improve or enhance anything? It does the opposite by giving a limited impression and a demeaned status.
Google Play store -- cut me a break!
Still haven't received an update either.. GSM Galaxy Nexus.
I noticed mine appeared in my application settings menu, under ALL, but not in my drawer. I rebooted, started the Market and then got a popup saying that it was changing to Google Play. No more market icon in drawer, replaced with Play Store. Droid X
Pretty much right when I posted that last comment, I went to check for regular app updates. Sure enough, as soon as I opened the market it updated itself.
Stupid, pointless change.
Agreed. Google play is a stupid name. It is not representative of the majority of what happens in the Google market nor is it representative of what the people who use it want for a name. How many millions of app downloads are there? We aren't playing!
Most people hate this moniker. You can check any Android news or blog site.
the entire committee that came up with this should be relocated in the company to the kiddie app sector.
Update? Who gives a rip. I am declining the app and hoping they will come to their senses. If not I will start getting apps from another site that will step up to the plate.
google y u taking tips from RIM
What happened?! Did Apple sue Google and make them change the name of the Android Market?! What a stupid name. Play store....
still no update here....droid 3
Play Stupid.
Maybe Apple will find a way to sue Google over it.
Play Store = dumb name.
something simplistic like
gMarket
gStore
Gangsta Market?
Gangsta Store?
Sorry, those names are worse.
Play Store is for the Sony Xperia line right? I think you can get game optimized for the Xperia Play in that app.
The gSpot.
Apple would sue cause that's dangerously close to iTunes. Thay have a patent for putting lowercase letters in front of an uppercase letter.
this is, aside from the terrible name in my opinion, the reason it's a huge mistake. Mine hasn't changed yet but even if there are things to click through, average users who just expect the market to still be there AREN'T GOING TO HAVE A CLUE.
I fully expect to have to do damage control with various Android users in my family who "can't find their android market" or believe "I think I deleted my Android market, how do i get it back..." over the next few days.
When you go to the Android Market, it will remain the old icon and name but when it loads it will prompt you that it's changing names and icons. It isn't just a random icon and name change out of the blue as you also have to accept the ToS again.
you can have flashing lights and bells and whistles, some users are just going to blindly click through things. Sure, ultimately it's their own fault I suppose but you have to account for stupidity of the highest level. That's why Apple is so successful with their iPhone. I am not saying they have a better product, far from it and in fact you'll never see me with an Apple product but I think you'd never see anything like this from them. That's not to say that's always a good thing but people like consistency and when you upend it from them they don't take kindly to it.
I'll give you a for instance in regards to people being blindly dumb. In the radiology office I work for, we have signs ALL OVER the place that indicated you should never ever sit down stairs because no one will EVER EVER find you there, yet despite this fact people find themselves downstairs often times asking me where the radiology office is when the sign is RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR DAMNED FACES. It blows my mind. You could physically tell people that the Android market is going to go away when you click yes and you are going use Google Play instead and that it will be the same thing with a new name and people will still not be able to grasp it.
Look at what happened with Coke when they replaced the coke cans with White ones during the winter. People went as far as to say it tasted different, they mistakenly bought regular coke (at the time white can) instead of Diet coke (Silver can).
Just my two cents.
It's not random, but it would be nicer if that after removing my Market icon they would have replaced it with Play.
Instead, I went back into my Google folder on my homescreen and there isn't a Play icon. I looked on the various homescreen pages, it wasn't dropped anywhere.
Then I went to the app drawer, found it, and added it back.
Was it hard... no, but being new to Android I found it not easy / intuitive. My BlackBerry would have dropped the new icon where the old one was, just so I didn't have to hunt for it.
Someone new to Android would know exactly what the Market was. When I was new to Android I would have thought "Play Store" was for games. It seems like they took a very good name that was well recognized and made it into a name that doesn't really reflect what is in the app.
I suppose someone had a patent on "Market" or any name containing that word right?
No, Google has been planning on changing this for a while now.
That's what the "Google Play" rumors have been about...it's just that people assumed that it was for the rumored tablet.
I think they should have called it Google Market.
Calling it "Play Store" makes it feel a little childish and for some reason sounds like a Sony product.