Android app developers can rejoice now that Google has launched a new mobile billing system that will help them make a lot more money.
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Half of iOS’s top 25 games are now free-to-play games. Google’s partners for in-app billing include hit makers Glu Mobile, Disney’s Tapulous, ComiXology, and Trendy Entertainment. Google takes 30 percent of all transactions, just as Apple does.
Apple implemented in-app billing in the fall of 2009, giving iPhone developers a new business model that stabilized their companies and allowed them to grow much faster in comparison to Android developers. Game maker Rovio, for example, launched its popular Angry Birds game on Android, but it had to use a free ad-based model because in-app purchases weren’t possible.
The growing number of Android phone models has encouraged developers to make apps for it nonetheless, but the arrival of in-app billing should make a big difference in how much developers are willing to invest in making apps for the platform.
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