Google (NSDQ: GOOG) officially announced today that the Android Market is open for business. Developers in the U.S. and the U.K. will be able to start selling their applications to consumers by mid-next week. Developers can upload the applications, along with their prices, starting today. Google will roll-out the capability in other markets soon, including support later this quarter for Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, and Spain. By the end of the quarter, they’ll roll out support in additional countries. Developers can find more information about priced applications in Android Market’s support page.
Google said it will be using its own Google Checkout billing mechanism for the market. This may be one of the hurdles in getting quick adoption. Not many consumers have a Google Checkout account, especially when compared to Apple’s iTunes. We’ll see if consumers quickly adopt paid apps on the T-Mobile G1, or if they have gotten used to everything being free. Regardless, this is a big step for Google in becoming a viable platform for developers, who wanted to create applications for the Android operating system, but not for free. Google did not confirm the revenue split, but it is expected that developers will get 70 percent, while the remainder will go to the carrier.
In addition, Google said the free version of Android Market will be launching in Australia starting Feb. 15. and in Singapore in the coming weeks.
UPDATE: A Google spokeswoman confirmed that developers will be receiving 70 percent of the revenues with 30 percent going to carriers and that the remaining amount will go to carriers and billing fees. She also confirmed that Google will not offer any sort of subscription or recurring pricing models out of the gate.
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