A new update to Google Play Store app APK for Android is now available for download, bringing the version number up to 4.1.6, and we have full download and installation details right after the jump.

An incremental point update has been made to the official Google Play Store app, bringing us up to version 4.0.26. It follows on from last week’s altogether more significant release of Google Play Store 4.0.25 APK, which brought a bunch of new features including a Card UI. According to some users, there were bugs with that new interface as well as a couple of other niggling issues with the release, and thus here we are no less than a week later with this housekeeping update.

All users of Android, and definitely most readers of this website, are likely familiar with Google Play Store, Android’s online directory that connects users with a vast library of Google-approved third-party content, ranging from music and video to third-party apps and e-books. If a newly leaked video today is any indication, Google is getting ready for a major refresh for Google Play, with enhanced features and a much-improved design.

Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets mean big business across the world, which in turn means that apps which are developed and submitted to marketplaces like the iOS App Store and Google’s Play Store for Android are also capable of turning up large amounts of money for the developer as well as the operating system owner. We already know that Apple turns over a substantial amount of money from their 30% cut of App Store sales, which is enough for them to break even and provide an app economy that effectively doesn’t cost them a dime to run.

If you’re without a credit card and need to buy apps from Google Play, you’re pretty much out of luck. The lack of gift cards on Google Play forces many young teenagers to adopt alternative methods of getting their paid apps, if you know what I mean. It’s terrible for developers, especially when people want to pay for apps but just can’t.

One of the great things about having devices like smartphones and tablets is the ability to constantly update the standard functionality of the gadget by downloading and installing additional apps which are available through marketplaces like the iOS App Store and Google’s own software market, the Google Play Store. In some instances it is possible to acquire installations from other sources, but for the mainstream user, the official app hubs prove more than sufficient with over 1.2 million combined apps available on the two largest sales platforms.

Although Google and Apple’s respective online app stores make it easy for smartphone and tablet users to find exciting games, tricky puzzles, and productive task-managers, country restrictions can be of extreme annoyance.