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Android Market's "25 Billion Downloads" - 5 Days. Apps $0.25, Movies for $0.99 & Books for $2

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That's right folks, IT'S BACK!
OzBargain's favourite type of sale is happening again!!

Direct link to the Google Play sale for:
Apps at $0.25 cents
Movies at $0.99 cents
Books at $2.00

Directly announced on the Google Android Blog, this sale will be running for the next 5 days.

Google Play hits 25 billion downloads

Whether you’re looking for directions, checking email or sharing a picture with friends, apps are now an indispensable part of life. And if you’re using Android, it all starts with Google Play, home to 675,000 apps and games. That’s a lot of choice. We’ve now crossed 25 billion downloads from Google Play, and to celebrate we’re offering some great discounts for the next five days.

Every day you’ll be able to choose from a collection of apps from some of the world’s top developers including Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, runtastic, Full Fat and more. And all for just 25 cents. We’ll also be offering some special collections like 25 movies you must own, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and our 25 top selling magazines, all at special prices. Visit Google Play a little later today to check them out.

Twenty-five billion is more than twice the distance, in miles, that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled since its launch 35 years ago. It’s the amount of time, in minutes, that have passed since some of our earliest ancestors began to set foot in Europe. And now, thanks to all of you, it’s a Google Play milestone. We look forward to the next 25 billion.

Day 1:

Apps Link Books Link Movies Link
Angry Birds Space The Secret River by Kate Grenville Brokeback Mountain
Asphalt 7: Heat The Light Keeper’s Wife by Karen Viggers Pulp Fiction
Clouds and Sheep The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain The Wrestler
Draw Something Wicked Nights by Gena Showalter Exorcismus
Granny Smith The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Scream 2
Let’s Create! Pottery The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer Vicky, Cristina Barcelona
NFL Kicker 13 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Good Will Hunting
Ocean HD The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa The Reef
OfficeSuite Pro 6 The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss Pan’s Labyrinth
Runtastic Pro Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson Where The Wild Things Are
Sudoku The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle Ninja
Symphony of Eternity The Australian Book of True Crime by Larry Writer Evening
Tasks Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult Inkheart
The Cat in the Hat – Dr. Seuss The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living by Russ Harris Aftershock
Nowhere Else by Fiona McCallum Bring It On
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith Chocolat
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything by Elizabeth Gilbert Born To Race
The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do IP Man 2
You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead by Marieke Hardy Law Abiding Citizen
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Little Big Soldier
An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington by Karl Pilkington Bodyguards and Assassins
God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens Bordertown
The Drop by Michael Connelly Across The Line
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 2 Days In Paris
Great Apes: Reissued by Will Self The Rebound

Day 2:

Apps Link
Cut the Rope: Experiments
doubleTwist Alarm Clock
World of Goo
SketchBook Mobile
FIFA 12
Paper Camera
Shark Dash
The Going to Bed Book
Flick Nations Rugby
Dungeon Village
Mini Motor Racing
Color & Draw for kids (phone)
Color & Draw for kids (HD)

Day 3:

Apps Link
Amazing Alex
TuneIn Radio Pro
Temple Run: Brave
HD Widgets
PicSay Pro – Photo Editor
Monsters Ate My Condo
Flick Golf
ezPDF Reader PDF Annotate Form
Kids ABC Letters
Rebuild
ZombieSmash
mSecure – Password Manager
Mass Effect Infiltrator
Dragon, Fly! Full

Day 4:

Apps Link
Broken Sword : Director’s Cut
Pool Break Pro
Order & Chaos Online
Cogs
Camera ZOOM FX
Ski Safari
Cut The Rope or Cut The Rope HD
Where’s My Perry
Endomondo Sports Tracker PRO
RealCalc Plus
MADDEN NFL 12 by EA SPORTS
UK Bus Checker
Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book
Farm Invasion USA – Premium
BONUS: SwiftKey 3 Keyboard @ $0.99

MOD: Move the link to Google Play.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: It's the first time I made purchase on Android Market and I got charged $2 for "PENDING — GOOGLE CHECKOUT INTERNET"!!!
A: See "Authorisations" section on Google Checkout Help. This is normal for the first time purchasers, and you will get the amount back between 1-14 business days, depending on your bank.

Q: I just purchased a bunch of Apps all at once and my bank is rejecting the purchase or I'm getting other errors.
A: Remember to not purchase all the apps at one go. Keep at least a few minutes between each purchase to avoid having them pending / cancelled. If you are having such problem, just click refund in the Market app and purchase again!

Q: Can I use my app purchase on other devices?
A: Yes, app purchases are tied to your Google account, not the device you're using. Any device that supports Google Play will have access to previous purchases.

Q: Can I buy apps now for use on a future Android device
A: You cannot purchase items from Google Play until you have logged into Google Play with your Google account at least once on an Android device.

  • A technical workaround has been posted by 'Anominous Sign' here. Great work, thanks Anominous Sign!

  • A less technical workaround can be achieved by borrowing a friends device, using a demo device in a retail store. You'll need to add your Google account to the device, access Google Play and possibly make a free purchase. It should go without saying that you'll need to remove your Google account from the device once this is complete otherwise your Google data (emails, calendar and contacts) will be synced to that device.

Related Stores

Google Play
Google Play
Marketplace

closed Comments

  • +8

    Not that it matters much since it's a forum post.. LOL but..
    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/80683

    • +13

      I posted it to the forums because the sale hadn't started yet. Anyway good luck to the op I guess.

  • cant wait

  • nice!

  • -7

    And again IOS still doesn't do these promotions… Any idea if there are plans with apple!? Only things they have are tiny promtions, actually VERY FEW like gameloft $1 apps, yes only one or 2 companies, we need $1 app store or anything.

    • they do it per app based and aint as cheap

    • +3

      When there are App Download milestones, Apple goes the golden ticket route and usually gives one random person $10,000 of iTunes credit. The Google App promotions usually make a bunch of days with 10c or 25c apps. Personally I prefer this approach.

      • It might sound a great deal for people, but it discourages people from buying apps now since it will be "cheaper" in the future if they hit the milestone.

    • +65

      There are many things that iOS still doesn't do… :-)

      Sorry couldn't help myself it was right there…

      • +5

        and a few things it does now, it doesn't do in the next version! ;)

      • +1

        cant give enough +

  • +1

    Haha yes let's make this another favorite deal of the site!

    • +31

      tell me why 25 apps a day for 25 cent each is not a bargain when the normal price might be from 1 to 10 dollar?

      • +19

        A good bargain is good advertising.

    • Is this a real bargain or just advertising for google market ?

      Let's also make this the most negged comment Ever iSheep

  • +5

    This is a great promotion and imo better than the Apple celebrations that only reward one person. The last sale I think was an Ozbargain vote record, wonder how this one would fare.

  • I can see some of the games are already 0.25 c, Is there any complete list of the apps, books & games?

    • +13

      Download an app called Appsales. This app can tell when an app`s price is going down. For now it shows the 25 cents apps.

  • it is already begun. Check the play store. Found Angry birds premium, officesuite pro, asphalt 7 useful for me ATM.

  • +2

    Asphalt 7 Heat is already 25 cents. yay!
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gameloft.a…

  • +4

    Remember the 10c app deal for 10 Billion Downloads? (which was also the most +ve voted deal of all time)
    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/59000

    I wonder if it will be $1 at 100 billion downloads lol

    • +3

      They'll be $10 each at 1 trillion downloads.

      • +3

        Damn it, we should've been there when they broke their first thousand.

        • Too bad there were no apps back then…

    • +24

      No one cares about Apple here - this is a Google Play deal, and if you're not interested, then I'm not sure why you'd bother commenting at all.

    • -1

      apple is $3.99/kg here. NOT on sale.

  • +4

    First day is a bit lackluster

  • Runtastic Pro is excellent. I have nearly every app for today already though….

  • Books
    25 books for $1.99
    I know - not 25 cents but seems to be part of the 25 billion downloads promotion.

    https://play.google.com/store/books/collection/promotion_100…

    I've been interested in "The Happiness Trap" but at $10.99 it was too much for an ebook, imho. But at $1.99, why not?!

    Anyone know how to find the $0.25 books?

    • +1

      I'm pretty sure only the apps are 25 cents.

      • Rats! :)
        Oh well, for me it seems like its back to ereaderiq.com to find the cheap Amazon books then.

    • +2

      lol.. I thought All 25 books for $1.99.. it's each price..

  • Bought 4 apps today. Asphalt reaffirmed why I hate touch screen racers. I have no one to play Draw Something with… I thought you'd be able to random someone, but it has to be people who know you. Bah.

    I'm surprised this sale isn't going to last 25 days.

    Just before typing this, there were 25 comments…

    • +3

      You can play with randoms in Draw Something…

    • +1

      I have no one to play Draw Something with…

      My friend you need to urgently Get off the phone and get a life. Get some friends.

      • It's not that… I don't have facebook and don't want it. And my schedule is such that no one is around when I'm up and not at work or asleep.

        • When I used to play it, you didn't need a facebook account if you wanted to play with randoms.

        • No Worries, understand, I uninstalled DS, because it sucked up too much of my time.

  • +3

    What do you reckon are the chances titanium back up pro will be on sale this time round?

  • Sweet. I'm hanging out for Minecraft to go on sale again.

  • +5

    Nothing really good today except maybe office pro.

    The games listed ain't all that attractive.

    I hope we don't see the same list as last 10 cents run

    Would love to see titanium backup, keyboards, cloud programs and some more decent games.

    • +5

      Granny Smith is a good game - perfect for poopin

      • +1

        I'll stick to my Dickens while pooping.

        Wait that didn't sound right

    • Yeah, I only brought Office Pro. Tasks I had, wish I had kept more of my Nexus 7 $25

  • How do you find the normal prices for these apps?

  • Technically it should be: *god Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. Just saying…

  • +3

    Bought a few Google Books because it makes me feel smarter.

  • The only app I'd bother with today I already have, but hopefully the next few days are better!

    • and which app is that?

  • +1

    Can you buy the books/movies/apps and store on a google play account/do you need a android phone to create an account?

    I know this sounds stupid as I have an iphone but I will be buying the S3 Galaxy 4G model when it is released next month so am wondering if I can buy these things now and then "download" them on to my phone when I get it?

    Thanks

    • You might be able to pull this off with BlueStacks. Can anyone confirm?

    • Just need a google account.

      • How does this work? I have an iPhone moving to a SG3 but have not received it yet. This is the message i get https://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/answer.py?hl=en&an…
        I have a google account but not google play account.

        • +1

          I'd research adding Google Play to BlueStacks. ;)
          That or you could ask an Android toting friend to sign into your Google account on their phone/tablet and access Google Play from there as a once off and then delete your Google account from the device. OR even quickly run to a phone store and DIY on one of their demo phones. Bit of mucking around on all counts though. :/

    • I'm in the same boat. If you find out a way please let us know!

    • In Gmail at the top (in a web browser) I have besides the other links a "Play" link - can you see it?

      Otherwise try going to https://play.google.com/ and signing in? I know it sounds obvious but it should theoretically work.

      • Tried this earlier. Unfortunately it fails with the error reported by killabob (http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/80697#comment-1040245).

        • +1

          One way is to find a friend with an Android phone and temporarily add your gmail account to it. In Play Store, press Menu, Accounts, and select Add account. Once logged in, you can then delete your account from the phone's Settings menu.

  • +1

    If i download any of these apps now am i able to keep them stored until i buy a tablet in the not so distance future.

    • +4

      Yes, they stay with the registered Google account you purchased them under. If you buy a new phone or have multiple devices, you can load old apps on at no cost.

      • Thanks Forgot that answers my question also, just want to be able to buy them now and then put them on my Galaxy in the future

    • I did the same for last 10c deal… i used my friend's s2 as my device brought some apps… asked him to delete the apps he did not want(Note:unless you have changed appropriate settings, all your photos and stuff will be synced in their phone) when i got my SGT 7.7 i installed them to my tab from Google play online…

  • Are all these 99c videos only rentals?

    • +2

      Clicking on the link to "AU$0.99 RENT HD" gives you the message:

      Start watching your rental within 30 days of purchase, and continue to watch for up to 48 hours

      Unlike previous Google Play Movie rental sales, these are all the HD rentals as opposed to SD in the previous.

    • +1

      rent only

  • +1

    Nice, hopefully some better apps will show up but overall like/

  • Ashamed, Google play doesn't have a shopping cart, so you can check out multiple items at the end. Hopefully, we won't get hit with too many transaction fees.

    • And on top of that, you have to purchase apps one after the other SLOWLY, otherwise the transactions fail. Happened to me just then.

  • +5

    Got most of my Nexus $25 to spend woo!

  • Nice. I only got 'OfficeSuite Pro 6', not really too much there.

  • But its no where near as good as the previous promo - which was 100 apps over 10 days for $0.10 each :(

  • +1

    I have enough free Nexus 7 credit to buy another 80-100 $0.25 apps ..lol so good.

  • Yes! Not interested in the books or movies, I'm not interested in Google for that. The apps, however… Clouds & Sheep! Tasks! Maybe Draw Something… do people still play that? OfficeSuite Pro? Runtastic Pro - have downloaded the free version which I've used before but can't remember why I uninstalled it. We'll see.

    I'm going to have to give Let's Create! Pottery a miss though…

    But yay! Love these promotions.

    • +2

      No one seems to be playing Draw Something anymore, much to my disappointment! I really liked that game!

      • If memory serves, when Zynga bought omgPop, they stuffed up Draw Something for a while, with a few bad updates and by adding more ads, and they reset your coins and bombs you'd earned (they vanished for a while, but came back a week later), and sometimes it was unable to connect to the server to submit moves. My wife and I had a 90-turn game that we'd been playing between the two of us, and we both got annoyed at all the new problems and annoyances and gave up and uninstalled it. I imagine other did the same, hence the drop in player numbers. Really, it's a cautionary tale about not stuffing up businesses that you acquire.

      • After Zynga took over and made their first update, it would take me 10+ attempts to load correctly. Gave up.

        SongPop is where it's at for now.

  • +1

    Had a look through iTunes. Barely any free apps lol. Jealous? Finally can download some new books and movies for decent price. Go Android.

    • +8

      really?! It seems like there's free iOS apps on OzB every 2nd day!
      And with itunes cards regularly at 20-25% off, you're effectively getting a 20-25% discount on all music, apps, etc through iTunes…I kinda wish there was something similar for Android apps/music :)

      p.s. i'm NOT a fanboi either way…I own Android and iOS devices…both good in their own right.

      • +1

        I guess that's why theres so many discounts for iOS apps on ozzyb everyday, because a lot of them are paid. Eg Whatsapp

    • Barely any free apps on iTunes? Maybe because you looked at "paid apps" section and not "free apps" section?
      Both Google Play and iTunes stores have paid and free apps section. :)

  • Anyone know how we get charged when paying by creditcard, ie is it processed as an overseas or local merchant?

  • Curious question: Sometimes developers give out their apps for free and I downloaded it for free. Say the freebie period is over and it now costs $ again. Can I uninstall it and reinstall it again later for free? I have a few freebie apps that is slowing down my old phone and I don't dare to uninstall them for fear I will have to pay for it next time! (Have I contracted the infamous ozbargain stigma? :P)

    So does anyone know whether once an app is downloaded, it is yours for life regardless of whether you had to pay for it or not?

    • I think so. (It is for apple apps) have not really try android in that way, but should be so.

    • You have already purchased the app (albeit free), so you will not need to purchase it again if you delete it.

    • +1

      Once purchased it's yours to take on and off as many times as you require on any Android device you can use your Google account to access Google Play. It's the very best scenario for the consumer. You even get a 15 minute refund window, doesn't happen on other 'stores'. ;)

    • You can also take a local back up of the app and install it form your own sd card next time,
      Look up app back up in the play store

    • +1

      The way it works is via a "Library" once you have it in your library, it will always be there (I have yet to see an app or book that is not like that"

      When I see an app that is free for a limited time and I think I would like to try it later, I just click to download, (if it is over 100mb , I cancel it if I am at work and dl it when I get home). there are many that I have not even tried. but they are still in the library if I want to in future.

  • +1

    Nice. I figured I could spare a dollar, so 4 apps, selected based on purpose and ratings:
    * Granny Smith (amusement game for me)
    * Tasks (could be useful for work stuff)
    * Runtastic Pro (for my body: I occasionally cycle, and should do it more, so if a 3d map view helps motivated me to go even one more time that I would have, then it's worth it)
    * The Cat in the Hat (emergency always-with-you toddler amusement)

    In previous sales I've bought 3d wallpapers, and didn't really get much value out of those. And too many of the sale items tend to be games, and often it's hard to find the time to play those. And I've tried various keyboards, but eventually went back to swype, after they improved it some more. Some of the standouts for me from previous sales (in case they become available again) have been:
    * FlightTrack (very useful to know what's going on with flights that you or family members are on).
    * Where's My Water? (good game)
    * ezPDF reader (bit faster than the free adobe one).

  • I am getting an android phone in a month but i want to buy these apps now. Is there any way of buying these apps without currently having an android phone?

    • +5

      Should be able to do so just by logging into the Play store with your Google account.
      Worst case, get a friend to add your google account to their phone.

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