Google put a big focus on developers at Google I/O 2013 and Android was hit with dozens of new features for developers to sink their teeth into. Most of these tools will not be noticed by users, Google also announced Games and All Access for consumers.
The conference started with Sundar Pichai, Android and Chrome SVP, announcing Android has hit 900 million activations since the start, Google also announced there has been over 48 billion downloads and revenue on Android is at an all time high.
Google Play Services was then unveiled and this new service comes bundled with a ton of new features, including cross platform notifications, Google+ sign in, cross platform sign in, faster GSM speeds, new Maps and Locations API, monetization tools and alpha/beta testing rollouts.
Google also released Android Studio, a new program allowing developers to create amazing applications specifically for Android. The program has some really unique advances in ease and clean up of code and will be released soon.
Google Play Games Services will also be imported into the new Android collection and allows game developers on Android to add cloud saving, achievements and leaderboards, peer-to-peer multiplayer and add friends through Google+ to games.
We had heard rumours previously about the possibility of a Google music streaming service and the company finally released All Access, a subscription based service starting at $9.99 with all of Google Play Music.
Google Play Education is the last feature to come to Android and Google said they wanted to make a bigger impact on education and technology, by offering apps and books on Android to be bought in bulk by educators and schools.
With Chromebook’s and Google services running on a lot of school campuses around the world, we can see why Google has put such a commitment into education with this new sub-app store.
Despite all of these new features, there was no new Android operating system, it seems Android 4.3 or 5.0 will have to wait until the X Phone or Nexus 5 is released.
