Let There Be Monetization: Android’s In-App Billing Is Out to Consumers
In a move that may make Android a financially viable platform for scores of developers, Google said that in app billing is finally out to consumers.
It’s taken months of waiting, but this will let Android developers finally embrace what iOS developers have been shifting to over the last several months: free games that monetize with in app purchases of virtual goods. More than half of iOS’s top 25 grossing games are now free and make money off selling virtual currency and goods.
Now Android developers, who up until this date have mostly been reliant upon advertising, will have a chance to do the same. With Android predicted to grab 39.5 percent of the 450 million estimated global smartphone shipments this year according to IDC, both the platform’s market size and freshly-launched payment options make for an attractive mix.
Android’s in app billing launch partners include Glu Mobile, the publicly-traded mobile developer behind Gun Bros and Deer Hunter, and Tapulous, the company Disney acquired which makes musical titles like Tap Tap Revenge. Tap Tap Revenge is selling packs of songs to play the game against. ComiXology’s Comics (see right) and Trendy Entertainment’s Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe are two other apps also coming to market today with in-app billing. Like on iOS, Android takes a 30 percent cut of all transactions.
While this is a promising start, Android still has a lot of improvements to make in terms of matching Apple’s prowess at payments. Even though developers have offered paid apps on the platform, the number of paid downloads on the platform has paled in comparison to volume seen on iOS. Google doesn’t require that consumers register their credit card when they activate their phones. So prospective buyers tend to drop off when users are prompted to enter in their credit card number the first time they download a paid app in Android Market.
Developers also need to take extra precautions to prevent piracy; Android is encouraging developers not to bundle in their in-app purchase content into their .apk file (or Android Package file). Instead they deliver the content through a real-time service with a remote server (see diagram below). If users download the content into their phone’s SD card, developers need to make sure it’s encrypted too.
March 30th, 2011 at 4:30 am
[...] So können jetzt Gratis-Apps offeriert werden, bei denen die Entwickler Geld mit dem Verkauf von Zusatzmodulen oder dem Freischalten von Funktionen aus der App heraus verdienen. Mit dieser Neuerung zieht Google mit Apple gleich. Der iPhone-Konzern [...]
March 30th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
[...] several months of preparation and anticipation, Google pushed in-app billing out to consumers yesterday afternoon. It lets people pay for virtual goods or currency in an app after they’ve downloaded it, [...]
March 30th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
[...] Let There Be Monetization: Android’s In-App Billing Is Out to Consumers Android developers can now include in-app billing to boost their revenue, much in the same vein as iOS apps. [Inside Mobile Apps] [...]
April 25th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
[...] Panda Games and a partner at SoftTech VC. Bionic Panda recently began using Google in-app billing, which finally came out to consumers at the end of March after several months of anticipation from the Android developer [...]
June 6th, 2011 at 10:31 am
[...] which can speed up actions in the game. It’s classic social-gaming style monetization, which only became recently possible on Android Market thanks to Google’s launch of in-app billing at the end of the first quarter. The Moscow-based company has about 200 employees and 11 studios. [...]
June 30th, 2011 at 9:42 am
[...] Google launched in-app billing three months ago, there are still markets where the company hasn’t secured direct carrier billing agreements [...]
August 24th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
[...] Android’s momentum in activations and recently launched in-app billing system make it a more financially viable platform for developers, we’re in a landgrab period where [...]
March 11th, 2012 at 10:33 am
[...] about all the ways Google planned to improve the Android ecosystem over 2011. At the time, he said in-app billing would come out soon (which it did in March of last year) and that the store was going to find ways to give more exposure to apps (which it also did at [...]
March 29th, 2012 at 7:57 am
[...] only has a shorter history with in-app purchases — the option only became available at the end of May last year — but it also shows far fewer Android apps overall have implemented in-app [...]