about getting the most from Google Play.

My name is Ellie Powers.

I'm a product manager on the Google Play team.

And I work on apps.

Many of you are here building apps, but why?

Right?

Why are we doing this?

Well, for some of us, it's because we

have a particular idea that we're really passionate about,

and we want to get out into the world.

For some of us, it's because we have

an idea for an exciting new business that

doesn't exist yet.

And the sort of world that we're talking about

is this multi-device, multi-billion person world

that's grown over the past decade or so.

And we're also going to talk about how Google, specifically

Google Play, is uniquely positioned

to help you get your idea and your business out

into the world and as successful as possible.

So first a little bit about me.

I love to travel.

I've been to countries all over the world.

And my favorite thing when I travel

is to go to a place that's going to make

me feel a little bit out of my element.

The other reason I love to travel

is they tell me that it's supposed

to be a really good idea to get away from your work from time

to time.

But unfortunately, when you work on mobile apps,

this is getting really hard to do actually.

So about a year ago, I went on a trip to Thailand and Cambodia.

And when I was on the subways in Thailand thinking-- yeah,

I'll get away from my work-- I'm seeing ads for Android games.

And then I go to the markets in Cambodia

and I see Android devices for sale.

And it's really a nice reminder that the work that we're

doing here, to build this mobile ecosystem together,

is really reaching people all over the world.

And today here we are in Moscone Center,

and we're seeing that the wave of Android

is now going in both directions.

Not only are our users everywhere,

but there are developers all over the globe.

Just actually across here on the floor here,

we have a developer called Rayark, also

from Southeast Asia.

And they've made a beautiful, immersive game experience.

And if you haven't seen it yet, I definitely

recommend that you go and check it out afterwards.

So these are the sorts of strong mobile ecosystems

that we're building all around the world

and they're tied together through Google Play.

So how did Google get involved in this whole mobile apps

thing?

Let's go a little bit further back into Google's history.

So my first experience with Google was this box.

And you could just type stuff into the box

and it would just find things for you.

It was magic.

And this was the first opportunity that a lot of us

had to see just how big the world was,

and that seemingly far away ideas and places

were now becoming within reach.

And so this was what Google started out with,

connecting people with the information and the products

that they were interested in.

So what happened next?

Well, on April 1, 2004, Gmail launched.

In 2005, YouTube joined Google.

And then with maps and other key launches,

Google became known for customer-centric internet

experiences and really, really enormous scale.

I mean, you may have remembered what

a big deal it was over 10 years ago

when you finally got a whole gigabyte for your online email

where people were offering just a fraction of that.

And this meant that your information

could be truly accessible from anywhere.

And this was happening on the web.

It was happening on desktop computers.

Maybe you remember having a dial-up modem

and that big upgrade moment to DSL.

And this was cool and exciting.

And let's fast forward to today.

Well, Android had joined back in 2005.

What's happened in those almost 10 years

is that we've now moved on to the next chapter

of the internet.

We have billions of people connecting.

Many of them are using Android as their first device.

And what happens?

What is the difference between your desktop computer

and a website with your mobile device today?

You're now in this kind of loop of constant interaction.

You've replaced clicking and typing

with touch screens, voice controls, and sensors.

And Google's still doing what Google has always

done best which is connecting people

with the information and products

that they find most interesting.

What this means here is now connecting people with the apps

that they love on a range of devices.

So what we're going to do today is

talk about what this means to developers like all of us.

So again, why do we develop?

Why do we build apps?

It's to get our ideas and businesses out into the world.

And an app is definitely the best way

to do that in this day and age.

So what we're going to talk about today

is how your app can reach the right users at the right time,

and the approach that you'll take

is going to depend on what stage your app is in.

So first, I want to talk to those

of you who are just getting started.

Maybe you've just built an app or you have an idea for one.

You don't have any users yet, so that'll

be your first challenge.

So before you publish your app, you probably

want to understand this ecosystem that you're joining,

and that's Google Play.

So what is Play?

Play is an ecosystem of apps, developers, and the store.

We have the one billion devices that were discussed before

and the people who use them.

Well over a million apps are in the store.

And behind the scenes, we have massively

scaled cloud computing services that

can help to do everything that we're going to talk about next.

What I think about what Google Play really is at its core

is a matchmaker.

If I'm a user, it's going to try to match me with a sort of app

that I'm going to want.

Maybe I'm looking for that app, or maybe I don't even

know I'm looking and it's just helping me discover something

new about what my device can do.

And then on the other side, if I have an app,

it's going to match me with the sort of users

who are going to be interested in my app.

So let's start out with something new,

something that's coming soon, something

that we're incredibly excited about.

So earlier in the keynote, you heard the discussion

about material design.

And on Play we're really trying to take

this beautiful, interactive layout to heart.

Now, when you launch a new app and you put it up

on the Play store, you really want

to make a great first impression.

So we've decided to make the store listing

on Google Play even more appealing.

And by the way, this is just a general concept.

It's not totally done, but we wanted

to share with you early so that you can understand

the context in which your app will be available.

So at the top you can see this beautiful feature graphic.

And at the bottom you can see a quick text summary

where you can explain to users exactly what your app will

for them.

So you might want to go into the Developer Console

and make sure that you actually have this graphic

and text available so that when we roll this out,

your app will be ready.

And in the middle here, you're going

to see the reasons why the user may want to install the app.

So for example, a great reason to install the app

is it's got a high star rating.

So we call that out really clearly.

Or maybe it's got a lot of downloads.

Or maybe, it's because your friend

has installed it and given it a high rating.

So this is going to be rolling out soon,

and we hope that it'll help you make your apps give a better

first impression.

OK.

When I go out in the world and actually talk to Android users,

I like to ask them how they find about their favorite apps.

The number one reason I hear again and again is-- well,

I found this app because my friend told me about it.

Perfectly natural.

And that's why on Google Play we're

trying to reflect the same behavior.

Whenever we see that your friend has rated or plus-oned an app,

we tell you about it.

And we also show you why we make each [? introduction. ?]

We don't just say install the app.

We say you should install this app because.

So what this does is it creates a ripple effect.

If you find one user who installs your app

and gives you a rating of plus 1,

it'll ripple out to effect all of their friends

and build more momentum behind your app.

You can also now follow top brands

like Wired or the New Yorker, or even celebrities.

So we talked about Play being a matchmaker.

How do we do this?

We're using the full power of Google

and the user's full profile to be

able to target the right app to the right user

at the right time.

We've also created these targeted groups

of apps based on user interests.

So here, you can see racing games

and you can also see food and drink apps.

And we don't necessarily show these groups to everybody, only

to the people who we know have these interests.

We also show personalized recommendations

that are based on a whole variety of things

we know about the user, including

what their friends have recommended.

And Play Games is something that's

really helpful for those of you who are making game apps.

Play Game Services are a great way

to enhance your app, to make it more social and more fun.

We launched it last year at I/O, and we've

heard that it's a great way to discover more games

and also to engage with the games

that you're already playing.

So today at I/O we announced some really exciting features,

including the new user profile, which you can see here.

It's showing which games you play in the achievements.

For example, on the screenshot behind me

you can see how many experience points

that this particular user has accumulated

in different types of games.

And then you can also create what

are called quests inside your app.

You can say-- hey, user, why don't you go and accomplish

this particular objective in a limited time.

And then we'll also go and show those quests in the Play Games

app to help recruit new users.

So if a user is looking for your app, if you're a developer,

you want to be absolutely sure that that user will

find that app no matter where they're looking.

And so that's why it's integrated with Google Search.

So if someone is on an Android device and searches

for your app in Google Search that

could be in Chrome or maybe in the Google search app,