Google moves to upgrade Play Store

San Francisco: Alphabet Inc’s Google is redoubling efforts to help developers of Android mobile apps build their businesses as concerns mount that the app economy has reached saturation. Under the leadership of Sameer Samat, who rejoined Google earlier this year after a spell as president of wearable tech firm Jawbone, the company is sharpening Google Play Store recommendations with artificial intelligence and expanding support for various payment platforms, among other initiatives. Android wild west Google has eased the once-complicated process of developing apps for the Google Play Store, said James Knight, a former Google employee who launched Pembroke, a consultancy that helps developers convert Apple-compatible iOS apps to the Android operating system. The Google Play Store accounted for 70% of app downloads in the third quarter of this year, but Apple’s App Store logged 65% of the revenue, according to App Annie, a mobile analytics firm. Google’s Play Store and machine learning teams began collaborating three years ago, and a partnership was struck last year with Google Brain, a cutting-edge research project.