Google to let paid-for apps into Android Market at last

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Google to let paid-for apps into Android Market at last

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 6 January, 2009

READ MORE: Google | Applications

Google is taking a significant step to catching up with Apple, by allowing paid-for programs into the Android Market from the first quarter, as promised when the online store was launched last year. Its would-be standard mobile platform is also likely to make an appearance on netbooks, a key driver of wireless data growth, at an early stage this year.

Developers have remained lukewarm about Android, partly because they cannot charge for software in the Market, but they should start to release a wider range of apps once they can generate revenue. Majors like EA Games have been waiting for paid software support before joining Google's ecosystem. Google has promised that developers will keep 70% of the revenue, with the rest going to carriers and billing settlement fees. Android Market will also expand to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands in the first quarter, coinciding with T-Mobile's launch of its Android-based G1 in those territories.

Google has also announced a web site called Product Ideas, on which it is inviting consumers to share ideas for improvements to Android products. Users can then vote on the ideas and some may get adopted by Google for development. Some of the more popular suggestions so far include a feature within Google Maps that would speak driving directions, the ability to sync the Google calendar, and ironically enough, a Google Reader application for the iPhone.

Google has long been expected to push Android on to the netbook in 2009, but third parties are already working on this. According to Matthäus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann of VentureBeat, it took only a few hours to compile Android for the Eee PC 1000H netbook and then the OS could use all the graphics, sound and wireless capabilities of the machine. This has fuelled major speculation that official Android netbooks will soon appear, since it is clear that Google has engineered the system to be more than just a phone-optimized OS, but instead one that could span PCs.