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While on Facebook today, I noticed a few of my friends and family who didn’t get the memo that the Android Market had now officially been renamed Google Play and mistakenly assumed they deleted the app from their phone altogether. Needless to say, they were in a bit of distress over the miscommunication. This actually got me wondering how many more people were possibly going through the same thing? A quick search and I noticed there was quite a few. So, I created this post to help those who are searching through Google, and for the rest of us to get a good laugh at (all in good fun, of course).
For those of you who came from Google — welcome to the greatest Android blog on the planet — the good news is, you haven’t deleted the Android Market from your phone. It’s just been renamed to “Play Store.” I promise. Take a look inside your app drawer and you’ll find it. There. All better.
For the rest of our Phandroid family, let’s take a minute to first — make a quick status update/PSA on the applicable social networks letting our less tech savvy friends and family know what’s up and after that, come back here to soak in the chaos, stress and heartache Google caused by suddenly changing the name of an app/service into something that doesn’t make much sense (yup, I’m still bitter). Enjoy.
the quality of photos and “high” standards followed for the picture you’re showing the world….does not give me warm fuzzies about the future of this country
My personal favorite was “Lilah Go Hard”. Just the name made me shudder, let alone the entire post.
My insistence on not having a facebook page was strengthened by reading through that mess. Can’t take the broken language and matching profile pics. Not you though “Lilly.” You can keep on keepin’ on.
You know, you can control who you are friends with and what you yourself do on Facebook…
Yeah, I’m aware. I just have no interest in it and don’t have time for it.
I’ll try not to be insulting… stupidity/ignorance is the bigger problem here. Sure the whole renaming thing is a bit confusing, but why would you think you deleted it? Wouldn’t you remember if you did? Do they somehow always uninstall things on accident or something? I guess when something goes wrong and you cluelessly assume it’s your fault, that says something about you.
you’re are being an A-hole.
“yo peeps lokk in ur appz google renamez dat shiz to play lolzwattehfux”… Better?
Some people don’t realize how stupid they make themselves look online. Sorry if that makes it hard to judge.
Nope. Google renames the store to something completely different & changes the icon and doesn’t tell the end-user. While also deleting the market icon off the users home screen. 99.9% of Android users don’t visit an Android site on a regular basis so how would they instantly assume that the name changed?
It make’s sense why a lot of those people think the app was deleted, this is also another reason why a lot of people prefer iOS, just little things like this that could be quite annoying, but really wouldn’t ever happen on an iphone.
I agree, it’s confusing. I was getting a little off topic by describing how some people are in general these days.
Yeah I was confused for about a second then I just checked the app drawer. I was expecting it to appear in the same spot the market app was. I think they changed the namespace so it’s a new app to Android now. I can see how it can be frustrating / confusing to users though.
I got a popup when I opened market, then it changed to play store after that… No one else?
Whats really surprising to me is that people don’t know how to download an apk.. i would have thought people that have androids would know that if you accidentally “deleted” the market or any other sort of app you could just find the apk file and reinstall it.
no
99% of Android users probably don’t even know what an APK is. Most people don’t come to these sites and know very little about technology. To them they click on the market, buy/downlaod an app and everything is done magically. They don’t want to know the mechanics behind it all.
Agreed. And nor should they have to.
Insulating the user from stuff like this is something Apple does well. Granted, the likes of us LIKE to know and have control over our devices, but the general population have shown time and again that, to them, personal computers are just appliances. What do MOST people do when an appliance breaks? Call an expert, or buy a new one. Grandma doesn’t go disassembling her dishwasher herself, nor does tweeny-Jasmine start stripping down the the brake system of her car.
I totally agree. This sort of thing is bound to happen over the many millions of users of android devices. More stupid than the end user seem to be the heads of corporate companies who invest billions into development who haven’t put a way to get *this* now back if its accidentally deleted. They should have announced it and what easier way than on the device through the old app store prog? Cheeky corporate greed. And yes it does make google look cheap and nasty but thats their problem for releasing it.
Yep. After messing around with a couple new apps I decided not to keep, I saw ‘Play Store’ on my phone, assumed it was something one of them had installed, and promptly trashed it.
chris whats your facebook?
http://facebook.com/gamercore
I’ll throw it up on the post in case anyone else wants to make friends =p
You are evil for laughing at the minions misfortune of not remembering what the market Icon looks like.
But it’s not the Market. It’s Play Store.. O_o
Seriously, this is the funniest post I have ever read. Thanks for including the hilarious blog posts! The funny thin is my Sprint GSII still has the “market”, and I even tried the clear data trick in the manage applications menu. I sign the agreement to Google Play, but on my phone it stays as the market.
I like dumb people……
Thanks for making my night, Chris! Hilarious. Makes the time at work go by quicker. :)
Love J.B.’s post.
This happened to me last night. For anyone defending Google’s debacle in every way converting ‘Market’ to the juvenile ‘Play’, look no further than this blunder.
News Flash: 24 people need iPhones to survive!
anyway to get the market back if i “accidentally” delete play?
doubt it yet. Perhaps in the phone memory?
Shoot all of those people now. Except Kerri give her a gold star and flowers and a pedestal, a high pedestal. A pedestal so high we can see up her skirt.
Whaaaaa? Kerri, who was freaking out on the phone with Verizon? Kerri, who was letting the “droids” know that “markets” was getting an update called “gingerbread?” Nah, Lilly is where it’s at.
“We are all getting new update for markets called gingerbread.”
Umm what? :-) fun times, fun times
And also it’s Android, not Droid.
Ya, what the F#@K is this girl talking about?!?!?! “We are all getting new update for marketS called gingerbread”???? REALLY? Not only is she SOOOO wrong but her phrasing is so grammatically INCORRECT it makes me what to friend this girl on FB…….find out where she lives…….go to where she lives….and slap her in the face.. I mean, I’m just saying.
Lol! This makes me want to be active in facebook again
Those people were “Played”.
Shocker! You mean removing the familiar branding of “Market” and the familiar icon and replacing it with “play” and an icon that looks like a music player caused confusion?(not to mention how on some phones the market icon remained but if you tried using it came back saying it was deleted).
Really though, you can expect a LOT of confusion like this over the week. I’d even be willing to bet we’ll see confusion from new phone buyers. A simple “Google Market” and they’d avoid the confusion and carry over a good deal of brand power.
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Ebsk8er06
I can’t even read half of those posts. Hp i deletd da android market frm my fone, how 2 gt bk???//1! ??? 11!!
Thanks for the heads up. I probably would have been in the same boat.
What a dumb name. Sounds kind of juvenile. Maybe I will get used to it, but right now it makes Google’s business front end look amateurish.
Is there a way to change the icon?
Yup. I posted about it yesterday. =)
http://phandroid.com/2012/03/08/want-to-change-the-google-play-icon-back-into-android-market-download-this-app/
My phone updated to Google Play, but the icons are still the same though.
Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > All > Google Play Store > Clear Data > OK. (Wow, that’s a long string.)
Then launch the Android Market or Play Store. It will automatically update your icons.
The easiest way would be to search for any app on the web market at market.android.com and then just install from there. Nice how I’ve been able to install to any of my devices easily
GOD! I HATE that new freakin icon!!! It makes NO sence!
It is a shopping bag with the Google Play logo on it… the old one was a shopping bag with the Android logo on it. So yeah.
Extend arm. Turn hand so palm is facing up. Rotate about the elbow so palm connects with forehead…
Aw MAN!!!! I just broke my glasses, thanks!
Fortunately on ICS this is all pointless, because Market/Play is always the small icon in the top right of your app tray. No need to have it on any home screens.
At least Marcellus figured it out.
Reading a majority of the comments below just really makes me laugh. Apple and there users are often criticized for being “elitist know it all” types of people who think they are better than others while having far less innovative features yet I get the same vibe from a majority of these people leaving comments.
It is a simple mistake and given that the people who use these tech blogs are only 99.9% of the android users out there, I don’t blame these people for not knowing that it was changed. Hell, i haven’t been to phandroid in awhile and I had no clue it was being renamed/changed. Simple mistake has turned into others insulting people. Childish.
As for the name change itself, sounds a bit stupid to me and the icon doesn’t even look android related. Though on my phone it says Market on the icon but if i press it and launch it, it says Google Play
when the new market downloaded it asks you to approve it, so people that say they didnt notice are just dumb. Clicking on anything to get to their texting. Those are the same people that get virus’s on their laptops and cant understand why.
that is NOT true at all. It updates the Icon BEFORE you have to click through and accept anything. This was the case on my Epic Touch, my Evo and my Father’s Transformer.
hi.somehow my andriod market deleted and there is no google play market. and now i don’t have any market in my phone can any body tel how to get my android market or the new one(google play market)
i’m still bitter, too.
Hi. :) Thank you for sharing.
Now I KNOW. *Phew*
I huge communication error on Google’s part. I read blogs and mobile news / technology news almost every 4~5 hours so I obviously knew but many other “regular” people did not.
With the market penetration Google has, it shouldn’t have done this as if nobody uses that application.
There should have been a clear message asking to update the “Market” to “Play Store”.
I’m amazed Google could fudge up such a small thing.
And oh yes, I got myself the iPad 3 though still plan to stick with an Android phone.
actually now i am pissed it was done oh so sneakily and some apps are missing in play that were on market.grrrrr
no goog no bad goog smackpants
Okay, but I really DID delete my Market. Actually, I have a rooted phone running gRom and I “downgraded” from Google Play to Market, hoping that that would solve a “memory full” error. It did not, and now I’d like to go back to Google Play, but Market won’t update. Any ideas?
omg your so right thanks for your advice it has been changed and is now called/is on my PLAY SHOP.
The app was replaced when we all updated our phone’s software from the old to the new. The app was in the same place as the market icon, only now it’s Google play. No harm done and the update looks better than one could have hoped.