IF THERE‘S ONE thing Android handset owners have been complaining about outside of the US and a few selected other countries, then it has to be the lack of “paid for apps” from the Android Market. Today Google announced its first step towards a solution of this problem by announcing that the Android Market with “paid for apps” will be rolled out in 18 countries over the next two weeks.
On top of that, Google will give developers in 20 new countries the chance to develop paid apps for the Android Market. Google also announced that they’ll be rolling out the paid for Android Market into further countries in the coming months. This is great news for consumers and developer alike, especially as a recent report is suggesting that Android is the only smartphone OS that’s gaining in popularity.
The paid for Android Market is set to open up in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan which is a very widespread geographic area. It’s actually quite surprising that Google has waited this long with the Scandinavian market, as people there are usually early adopters and it seems like a logical place to try out new services.
As far as developers interested in making some money off their Android apps are concerned, if you live in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland or Taiwan, then you’re in luck as you’ll be able to sell your creations through the Android Market. The good news here is that you’re not limited to your home country as the apps can be sold worldwide if you so wish.
This adds some further excitement for consumers who’ll get access to a much broader selections of apps – which will hopefully be of good quality – while at the same time the device manufacturers and network providers get another selling point to add to their products in these regions. Apple might not be as safe as they think they are, despite having a huge developer community for its iPhone products. Still, Google has a lot to prove with Android yet, but this is at least a step in the right direction for the platform.S|A
Lars-Göran Nilsson
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