在搜索之外，谷歌已經(jīng)有了另一項(xiàng)快速增長(zhǎng)的業(yè)務(wù)

????在五年的時(shí)間里，谷歌應(yīng)用商店Google Play已從新興手機(jī)應(yīng)用市場(chǎng)成長(zhǎng)為大型媒體中心。

????上周四，在谷歌（Google）第二季度收益電話會(huì)議中，即將離職的谷歌首席商務(wù)官尼科什?阿羅拉表示。除應(yīng)用外，Google Play現(xiàn)在還向全球10億多Android手機(jī)和平板用戶銷售數(shù)字電影、電視劇和音樂(lè)。

????阿羅拉稱，Google Play平臺(tái)“仍在飛速發(fā)展”。

????谷歌并未公布Google Play的具體業(yè)績(jī)。但該業(yè)務(wù)的銷售額一直穩(wěn)步增長(zhǎng)，現(xiàn)已成為谷歌的第二大收入來(lái)源，僅次于該公司一直以來(lái)最賺錢的廣告業(yè)務(wù)。

????谷歌在線廣告業(yè)務(wù)的增長(zhǎng)放緩不可避免，要抵消這一不利影響，關(guān)鍵在于尋找新的收入來(lái)源。而銷售針對(duì)移動(dòng)設(shè)備的應(yīng)用程序和娛樂(lè)產(chǎn)品，不僅能令華爾街的投資者滿意，同時(shí)也能增加谷歌操作系統(tǒng)對(duì)消費(fèi)者以及設(shè)備制造商的吸引力。

????花旗集團(tuán)（Citigroup）分析師馬克?梅預(yù)測(cè)，到2017年，Google Play的年收入將從2013年的13億美元增至52億美元。相比蘋果去年公布的iTunes的100億美元銷售額，Google Play可謂相形見(jiàn)絀。但不可否認(rèn)的是，Android的發(fā)展勢(shì)頭十分強(qiáng)勁。

????據(jù)國(guó)際數(shù)據(jù)公司稱，全球智能手機(jī)用戶中，近80%的人擁有Android設(shè)備，這個(gè)比例比三年前翻了一倍。而蘋果iPhone的市場(chǎng)占有率為15％。

????Android取得這一成績(jī)實(shí)屬不易，因?yàn)樗１蝗酥肛?zé)品質(zhì)和統(tǒng)一性不如蘋果操作系統(tǒng)。Android的優(yōu)勢(shì)在于，手機(jī)制造商能根據(jù)自身需要對(duì)其進(jìn)行定制，亞馬遜（Amazon）即將推出的Fire手機(jī)以及宏達(dá)電（HTC）的“Sense”軟件都利用了這一點(diǎn)。

????然而，Android的開(kāi)放性也帶來(lái)一些問(wèn)題，因?yàn)橛猩习俪汕Э钍謾C(jī)采用不同版本的Android，這種情況被稱為“碎片化”。某些Android版本的用戶無(wú)法與其他用戶一樣快速升級(jí)自己的手機(jī)軟件。由于碎片化問(wèn)題，有科技作家稱Android的安全性“一塌糊涂”。

????但這樣的嘲諷和挑戰(zhàn)也將無(wú)法阻止Android操作系統(tǒng)在全球手機(jī)市場(chǎng)上攻城略地。Google Play成為谷歌重要的收入來(lái)源也證實(shí)了這一點(diǎn)。

????Google Play的成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程頗為曲折。2008年，谷歌推出名為Android Market的應(yīng)用程序商店。2012年，Android Market與谷歌音樂(lè)合并，并更名Google Play。

????截止今年6月份，Google Play平臺(tái)上有150萬(wàn)個(gè)應(yīng)用程序，超過(guò)了蘋果應(yīng)用程序商店中的120萬(wàn)。在娛樂(lè)方面，用戶可在廣闊的Google Play平臺(tái)上租賃或購(gòu)買新近上映的電影、電視節(jié)目、暢銷電子圖書、期刊和音樂(lè)。Google Play的目標(biāo)很明確：讓Android用戶無(wú)論身在何處，都能通過(guò)該平臺(tái)訪問(wèn)盡可能多的數(shù)字內(nèi)容，包括迪士尼（Disney）的《冰雪奇緣》（Frozen）、喬治?馬丁的《權(quán)力的游戲》（Game of Thrones）以及洛德橫掃各大排行榜的《天生英雄》（Pure Heroine）專輯。

????In five years, Google Play has gone from being an upstart marketplace for mobile phone apps to a mammoth media hub.

????On Thursday’s second-quarter earnings call, Google’s outgoing Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora all-but-said as much. In addition to apps, it now sells now sells digital movies, TV shows and music to the more than one billion people worldwide who own Android phones and tablets.

????It “continues to grow at breakneck speed,” Arora said on the call.

????Google doesn’t break out numbers for just how well Google Play is doing. But sales have steadily grown into the second largest source of revenues behind the company’s long-standing cash cow, advertising.

????Finding alternative sources of revenue is critical to Google as it tries to offset the inevitable slowing growth in its online ad business. Selling apps and entertainment for mobile device can be an important way to keep Wall Street investors happy along with making its operating system more attractive to consumers and device manufacturers.

????Citigroup analyst Mark May predicts Google Play’s annual revenues will grow from $1.3 billion in 2013 to $5.2 billion in 2017. Those figures remain a fraction of the $10 billion in iTunes sales Apple reported last year, but Android’s momentum is undeniable.

????Nearly four out of five smartphone owners worldwide have an Android device – twice the market share Android had three years ago – according to IDC. Apple’s iPhone, meanwhile, has a 15% market share.

????That’s seriously impressive for an operating system some have criticized for being less polished and unified than Apple’s. Android’s strengths have been its ability to be customized by phone makers – something that Amazon , with its forthcoming Fire Phone, and HTC with its “Sense” software – have tried to take advantage of.

????But that same “open” nature breeds complications because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different phones, using different variations of Android, a situation referred to as “fragmentation.” Users of some versions of Android can’t upgrade their phone’s software at the same speed other users can. It’s because of fragmentation that Android security remains what one tech writer colorfully called a “toxic hellstew.”

????But such quirks and challenges will do little to block Android from steamrolling mobile around the world. And Google Play’s rise as a serious source of revenue for Google is just more evidence of that.

????Google Play’s chronology is a bit convoluted. It launched in 2008 as an app store called Android Market. In 2012, it merged with Google Music and was renamed Google Play.

????The Play store had 1.5 million apps available as of June, more than the 1.2 million offered by Apple’s own App Store. In terms of entertainment, the sprawling marketplace offers many recent movie releases and TV episodes for rental or purchase, bestselling e-books, periodicals and music. The goal is obvious: Android users should be able to access as much of their digital content as possible from the Play Store wherever they are, tapping and swiping among Disney’s Frozen, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones or Lorde’s chart-smashing Pure Heroine album on a dime.