Last week, Google rolled out its Android Market with around 50 mobile applications that users of the new Google G1 handset could purchase and download to their device. Today, Google has opened the Market up to developers, who can now submit their applications for inclusion.
Google is requiring developers to pay a $25 registration fee before they can submit their apps. Additionally, with pay-for-download apps, developers can expect to pay a 30% transaction fee, all of which goes to the carriers and payment processors – not Google. There are no transaction fees being charged for free applications.
Meanwhile, it’s being reported today that HTC, the G1’s manufacturer, expects more than 600,000 of the handsets to sell by the end of 2008. That would be a pretty good start considering T-Mobile and Google have just over two months to move all of those units – it’s a pace of more than 2 million per year.
And while that might be pretty miniscule compared to the 10 million iPhones that Apple has now officially shipped, the vision for Android is to be the mobile operating system for many devices. Decent sales for G1 and its data plans will go a long way in convincing other manufacturers and carriers to bring Android-powered devices to market, which would in turn make the platform far more attractive to developers.
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