14 DAY TRIAL // In a long overdue move, Google has finally announced that tablets and smartphones apps will soon be differentiated in the Google Play Store.
Until now, slate owners browsing through the app store, had no idea what apps were optimized for their larger screen devices, which caused a lot of confusion and annoyance.
Starting November 21, users browsing the Google Play store by means of a tablet will only see the slate-able apps and games in the top lists: Top Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing, Top New Paid, Top New Free and Trending.
That will certainly make things easier. Also, if slate owners wish to check out the smartphone offerings as well, they can do so, by switching back to the regular mode.
Google is not only looking to appease users, but also to prompt developers to build and optimize more apps and games for the larger devices. And to give them a more firm push, the search giant has further announced that starting with November 21 apps that won’t meet the “designed for tablets” criteria will be marked with the label “designed for phones.”
Bottom line is that developers who managed to put a little more time into developing a capable tablet app, will enjoy more downloads than those who don’t. Or at least so goes the theory, according to Google.
As a bonus, the blog also claims that 70 million Android tablets are currently activated world-wide.