Google Play and Analytics come to the ‘island of the disconnected,’ Cuba

Google announced today that it will make Google Play and a free version of Google Analytics available in Cuba.

Because of the ongoing embargo that restricts exports from the United States to Cuba, the apps and games available in the Cuban version of Google Play will be free.

Cuban blogger Yaoni Sanchez once called Cuba the “island of the disconnected” for its lack of connectivity to the Internet. Roughly a quarter of all Cubans have web access. For this reason it’s uncertain what is motivating Google to make its software available there.

However, as The Next Web points out, Google founder Eric Schmidt first expressed interest in Cuba back in June. He details a recent trip to Cuba where he saw youngsters “assembling informal mesh networks of Wi-Fi routers,” and other workaround hacks for a cobbled-together Internet experience.

In August Google announced the release of its Chrome browser in Cuba, and it seems the company will continue to roll out products to the communist state with the ultimate hope that the U.S. will roll back the embargo.

For Eric Schmidt’s full post on Cuba, go here.