Google announced the v3.0 release of the Google Play services back in late-February. At that time there was talk of v3.0 adding the ability to sign in to apps using your Google+ account. That feature was set to compete with Facebook Connect, which is another service that allows the user to login without having to create an entirely new account for each service they use.
Google also introduced another feature with v3.0 that allowed developers to offer over-the-air app installs. Now, coming several months after this was originally introduced, it looks like Google has released some stats. Basically, it looks like the amount of users that are accepting the over-the-air app installs is sitting at 40 percent. That detail has been released in a statement from Seth Sternberg who is the Google+ product manager. In his statement, Sternberg notes that;
“When we launched Google+ Sign-In, we wanted to bridge the gap between desktop and mobile by allowing web users to instantly download a site’s Android app with just one click using our over-the-air install feature. Since launch, we’re now finding that 40% of people who are offered to install a website’s mobile app, accept. This is a significant benefit for consumers, who can now easily access their favorite sites on the go, and developers, who are experiencing greater mobile usage.”
Looking back at the announcement for the over-the-air app installs and we see that Fitbit was used as an example. The way this all works is rather simple. Assuming the developer sets things up this way, users will be offered the option to download the mobile app while they are creating their account using the desktop website.
While many apps could take perfect advantage of this setup process, Fitbit offers a good look given many will likely head to the website to create their account and set up the tracker. Google offered a video demo of this, which can be seen in the video sitting above. Basically, this process was originally intended to help developers increase mobile app usage and given the 40 percent number — it seems to be working.
Otherwise, the Google+ Sign-In feature was said to have launched with 10 partners and has since grown to about 50 partners. One of the more recent partners was SoundCloud, however this process was also adopted by Janrain and Gigya back in early-April. So, has anyone been using the Google+ Sign-in? Or for that matter, are you included in that 40 percent that have accepted the over-the-air installs?
