Along with the introduction of the new Chromebook Pixel, Google is also introducing a new way to get that ultrabook along with the rest of its hardware and physical products. Google is now creating a more formal divide between its digital and non-digital items, banishing the latter from its its Google Play Store website. Now, those interested in getting Nexus, Chromebooks, smartwatches, or even Nest will have to go through a new “Google Store” portal made especially for these things.
To some extent, this division actually makes so much sense that you wonder why Google didn’t do it like this in the first place. Google Play Store, which is already probably poorly named because newcomers immediately presume it’s just for games, is more readily associated with Google’s virtual goods, namely apps, movies, ebooks, and music. Although for a time, a Devices sub-section could have been justified because of their immediate relationship with Android, that no longer holds true with Google’s expansion to even more types of hardware, especially with the likes of Nest and Dropcam.
The transition from Google Play Store to Google Store is mostly fluid, with browsers automatically being redirected to the new URL when trying to view hardware products. Nothing much has changed except for the new distinct look and perhaps some leeway in the future to add more hardware-specific content that Google was otherwise not able to inject into the Play Store version. Perhaps this move goes hand in hand with Google’s first ever retail store that was spotted in London.
That said, there is one change that buyers need to be aware of with the change in stores. Google Play credits will no longer work on the new Google Store. That said, those who already bought devices from Play Store will already have a Google Wallet account that they can also use in Google Store.
