For years, Google play store has been the top source for fulfilling all our Android needs. With millions of applications available and more getting added everyday, by people in suits working from offices to your next door neighbor working from his basement, the play store has converted Smartphones into virtual do-almost-anything devices. Whats more, by not relying on advertisements like Facebook, twitter and almost every other site does, Google has managed to keep everyone happy, developers allow ads on their applications and make bucks for all their trouble — Google paid out almost 7 billion dollars to developers in 2014 — and you and me get the best possible match for our Software needs sorted by Google using complex algorithms as well as lists tailored by dedicated editors.
However, according to a recent announcement made by Google, things are going to change quite a bit. Applications are now going to come in two categories, sponsored and non-sponsored. While the non-sponsored applications will be your normal, run of the mill kind — which have to depend on good ratings etc. to inch their way to the top of the search results — the sponsored applications will automatically feature above all the rest in every search, in lieu of which Google will charge a modest amount from their developers/sponsors.
Some may call it unfair, but with over 100 billion searches every month, even Google may have a hard time deciding which applications to place at the top of the hierarchy whenever someone types in that search bar. This method will give it a kind of handhold to use while sorting through the enormous app data at the Play Store — not to mention that it is bound to be quite lucrative — and will definitely allow developers to reach out to a wider section of the populace.
This program is still in its trial phase with select partners but if everything works out, we may just see it implemented across the Play Store.
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