Google Wipes Android Market, Replaces With Google Play

In an effort to combine both Amazon’s idea for selling e-books, as well as Apple’s iCloud (online storage space), Google unveiled it’s facelift for Android Market. The new site, now named Google Play, sells apps, books, games, songs and more, and allows for syncing across multiple devices (like iCloud does for Apple products). The books, music, and movies were already available for Android devices, however the new Play Store unifies these, making it easier to search for, purchase, and download what you want.

The cloud feature can hold up to 20,000 songs, including those that were not purchased directly from Google. The cloud does not store movies though, because of copyright issues. While the website made the change to Google Play today, it will take some time for developers to roll out the application though updates to Android devices.

Google hopes with this move, that people who already purchase apps with their Android devices will notice that Google also offers other options, and will begin to download books, music, and movies. This would increase profits, and increase the chance that other companies, like Warner Music Group, will agree to offer their material for sale on the Play Store.

Do you think that, with this new move from the Android Market to Google Play, Google is becoming a more formidible opponent for Apple and the iTunes store? Check out the Google Play Store here, then leave your comments!