Google Play, not YouTube, is Google’s “next multibillion...

Google Play, not YouTube, is Google’s “next multibillion dollar opportunity,” said a CreditSuisse equity research note to investors Monday. “Google Play has grown over the last two years from essentially zero to a level equal to YouTube in size and should contribute ~$4.4 billion in revenue this year.” The analysts cited the growth of mobile games as the driving force behind the prediction: “The proliferation of connected devices is ushering in the growth of mobile games and Google Play along with Apple’s App Store are the platforms facilitating monetization, and for Google, this is the first tangible benefit of its ownership of Android.” Apple and Amazon have faced scrutiny from federal regulators over unauthorized in-app purchases (CD Jan 16 p12).