Google Play

Google offers the Google Play service in which programmers can offer their Android applications to Android users. End users use the Google Play application which allows to buy and install applications from the Google Play service.

Google Play also offers an update service. If a programmer uploads a new version of his application to Google Play, this service notifies existing users that an update is available and allows them to install the update.

Google Play provides also access to services and libraries for Android application programmers. For example it provides a service to use and display Google Maps and another to synchronize application state between different Android installations. Providing these services via Google Play has the advantage that they are available for older Android releases and can be updated by Google without the need for an update of the Android release on the phone.