App developers get access to more than one billion Android phone users, while consumers can choose from a wide range of apps to make their devices more useful.
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Google will do anything to sync its devices to a unified whole, and that is why it is now bringing the Google Play Store apps to Chromebooks.
Other Chrome OS devices will also be supported by Google Play Store later on. Instead of rating the app, however, users will be able to give feedback to developers through the Google Play store without there being any exchange of emails or phone numbers. This means you’ll be able to download and use Android apps, so you can make a Skype call, work with Office files and be productive offline – or take a break with games like Minecraft, Hearthstone or Clash of Clans.
As announced during yesterday morning’s keynote, Google is rebuilding its YouTube app, making it more enjoyable for those who plan on using the service with virtual reality. As noted previously, Chromebooks have only cloud storage options. but there is also the possibility that Google Play could also launch as a web app.
Enterprise administrators will be able to push applications down to devices through a centralized process and can control which apps are available through the Play Store using the Play for Work API. “What we want to do here is keep all of the great features of Chrome OS and bring all of the best parts of Android over so our users get the best of both worlds”.
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It’s also a long time coming: Google promised that Android apps would be coming to Chromebooks way back in 2014. To be fair, it has even excluded its own original Chromebook Pixel 2013 model, which includes a touch screen display (useful for Android), from the support list. This will start rolling out as of June 2016 and now we have the official Chromebook support list for Android Apps that you need to be aware of. But it will be “a few months” before we find out more.
