The long-awaited introduction of in-app payments to the Android platform looks set to take place in May. Read on for more details.
The news was revealed by Jambool, the virtual monetisation company acquired by Google last August. In an email to app developers, the company explained that its own Social Gold platform (the one that attracted Google’s attention in the first place) was due to be taken offline “in favor of a new Google in-app payment product in May 2011.”
The email went on to invite developers to join the pre-release beta of the Google service, which it admitted was not as feature-rich as its own outgoing service just yet.
The May release represents a major slip for Google, who had previously announced that its in-app payment system would be in place by Q4 2010. The provision has already been a huge success on Apple’s iPhone platform, allowing developers to offer additional services and make additional charges from within their applications.
Android developers have so far had to use third-party work-around solutions if they wanted to, for example, sell virtual goods within their gaming app. Google’s official solution, which some have speculated could be launched at Google I/O on May 10 and 11, can’t come soon enough.
via TechCrunch
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