Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Android Market debuted on this date all the way back in 2008.
- A little over three years later, the Market would pick up the Play Store name we still use today.
Google nearly just found itself forced to implement some major changes to the way it runs the Play Store, stemming from the fallout of the legal case Epic Games brought against the company. Ultimately, Google convinced a judge to press “pause” on what would have been the most impactful components of the court order, but all this has gotten us thinking about what an institution the Play Store has established itself as, and how it really does feel like any major changes there would be like shaking up Android, close to its core. Well, there’s good reason that Google’s Android app store feels so important to us, as today marks sixteen years that we’ve had it around.
It was back in August 2008 that Google first announced the Android Market. Apple’s App Store for iPhones had opened earlier that summer, and Google needed to step up with a solution of its own for Android software discovery and distribution. The company invited developers to sign on as merchants, and a few months later, on October 22, 2008, the Android Market finally opened for business.
At first, the Android Market was limited to just the app on Android devices, and it wouldn’t be until early 2011 that Google gave users a web-based interface for the store. A little over a year later, Google started with its major push for a brand refresh, bringing us the Google Play Store we still know today. While Play Movies, Play Music, and the rest may have morphed and been absorbed into other projects over the years, the Play Store has stood the test of time.
By now, the Play Store was Google’s distribution hub for all sorts of media beyond just apps, and we’d eventually see it evolve to handle subscription management, as well. Even the way Google sells apps themselves has diversified over the years, with Play Pass offering a one-stop subscription option.
This whole time, Google’s worked to keep Android’s app catalog safe and accessible, regularly pruning the Play Store of any malware that sneaks by its checks, and more recently pushing to remove lower-quality apps. Even in 2024, we’re looking forward to new features all the time, like the Download Manager we’ve spotted in development.
Big change still may be coming to the Play Store — whether Google likes it or not — but no matter how it operates, or what name it takes, it seems pretty clear at this point that Google’s Android app store is in this for the long haul.
