ANDROID IN

At the beginning of February, Google announced they would be bringing in-app payments to the Android Market, and according to their official blog, the service went live on Tuesday evening. The launch applies to both developers and Android Market customers.

It works in the same way as Apple’s in-app payment system, where you’ll be given the option of making a further payment inside an application in order to gain access to further content. Google say it’s a great way for developers to monetize their apps, and suggest charging for everything from ‘virtual goods’ to app upgrades, videos as a gateway to the established freemium model.

Freemium apps have grown in popularity inside the App Store, with many examples of free-to-download games essentially being demo versions, and requiring a payment to be made before unlocking the full game. The use of in-app purchasing has caused controversy recently, regarding the ease in which a user could rack up massive bills by repeatedly buying ‘virtual goods’. Apple have now made a change to the way in-app purchases are billed to avoid such problems in the future.

In-app purchasing could prove to be successful in the Android Market, given the ability to keep the ‘free’ price tag so beloved by Android users, but still maintaining a potential revenue stream.

If you want to give a freemium title a try, why not download the rhythm-based music game Tap Tap Revenge, or the action-shooter Gun Bros from the Android Market? Other examples of games with in-app purchasing already inside include Dungeon Defenders and the virtual comic store ComiXology.

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