Google Intros Google Play Services for Android Developers

On Thursday, Google announced the availability of Google Play Services for developers who are interested in integrating additional functionality inside their mobile applications.

The availability of this development platform was announced initially at the Google I/O conference, and things appear to have been finally put in order for public availability.

The launch of Google Play services v1.0 includes Google+ APIs and new OAuth 2.0 functionality at the moment, the company announced.

“Google Play services is a platform delivered by the Google Play Store that offers integration with Google products, such as Google+, in Android apps. The Google Play services platform consists of a services component that runs on the device and a thin client library that you package with your app,” Google explains.

“The Google Play services component is delivered as an APK through the Google Play Store, so updates to Google Play services are not dependent on carrier or OEM system image updates.”

Google also announced that the newer devices would arrive on shelves with the Google Play services included in the system image, and that updates were still being pushed to them through the Google Play Store.

According to the company, all devices that run under the Android 2.2 Froyo or newer flavors of the operating system will receive the updates through the official storefront within a few days.

“This allows you to leverage the newest APIs for Google products and reach most of the devices in the Android ecosystem. Devices older than Android 2.2 or devices without the Google Play Store app are not supported,” Google explains.

“The Google Play services component contains much of the logic to communicate with the specific Google product that you want to interact with.”

The service is accompanied by an easy-to-use authentication flow that will deliver access to a series of supported Google products, something that should deliver consistency for developers and users alike.

“From the developer's point of view, requesting credentials is mostly taken care of by the services component through calls to the client library. From the user's point of view, authorization is granted with a few simple clicks,” the company notes.

You can learn additional info on the matter on this page at Android Developers. Info on the new Google+ Platform for Android can be found via this link.

Via: Google Intros Google Play Services for Android Developers