You might have missed the fact that Google has created a free app - Playbook - which is designed to get Android developers to make more and better use of Google Play.

If you are a casual Android programmer then you might well be unclear as to what Google Play is all about.  This state of ignorance probably won't continue for very long, however, as Play is becoming increasingly central to Android and is the mechanism that Google is using to keep control of its open source operating system. As time passes more and more facilities that the user considers to be core or essential are being provided by Google Play. 

Now Google has an app. for Android 5.0 and later that:

"... helps you stay up-to-date with the features and best practices to grow your business on Google Play."

See the video to be encouraged to install it: 

If you install the app you might be a bit disappointed.

Basically it is just a news app that selects material that is already available and gives you the choice of what to read. The articles are mostly fairly non-technical and more suited for a manager with some technical background to read.  The idea that it keeps you up-to-date with anything is a bit of an overstatement!  At best it will indicate when there is a Google Developer blog article that you might be interested in. 

In short this is the sort of app that gives apps a bad name. 

It also points out the real shortage of quality technical information on Android. With Android N and all of the new APIs that are floating around it is next to impossible to know what is the best way to do anything and difficult even to know what is possible. The Android documentation isn't bad - it's just sprawling and not up-to-date.

In short there is a need for an app, but unfortunately this particular app has been designed to be glossy rather than helpful. 

Google really needs to put some techies in charge of this sort of thing.

More Information

Playbook for Developers

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