Thank you, Google - this is an improvement in my user experience.
People seem to be looking at this from a security standpoint - and trashtalking appropriately, since it's well known that security on android is substandard, and protecting apps from updating themselves to be malicious isn't going to change that (though I recall reading an article on the register a week or few ago about some malicious android apps that did exactly that - maybe that's what this is a response to?).
Regardless of any security ramifications, though, forcing app developers to update through the play store improves the user experience. Getting app updates shoved at me via non-standard methods is fucking annoying - one of the really obnoxious things about windows is how every application has it's own method of getting updates, each with their own quirks. Getting updates through the app store on android is much more pleasant....
With normal Google Play Store updates, I can easily:
* Use the app without a nag screen telling me to update (FB updates were giving an obnoxious message that left me unsure as to whether the app would even run if I didn't update it). In-app prompts to update interrupt workflow - we start apps to use them, not to check for updates.
* Check reviews on the latest version before updating, so I can avoid getting a version that everyone says broke stuff.
* Update all my apps at once, in one place.
* Know when an app has been updated (ex, to track down new problems).
Meanwhile, in-app updates seem to offer little to no benefits to compensate for all these shortcomings. Can anyone explain what benefit an in-app update has?