日前，谷歌推出了备受关注的Android Market更新版本，支持用户在电脑桌面浏览并搜索手机应用，然后通过无线网络下载到手机或平板电脑上。Android Market这次提供的用户体验进步更为明显，而其上一个版本甚至没有应用搜索功能。

尽管新版Android Market的前端功能最受瞩目，但对开发商来说，另外两个变化更值得关注，那就是Android Market添加了用户货币选项和应用内置付费功能。

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应用内置付费功能

谷歌一直都承诺将为Android Market植入应用内置计费系统，但直到最近才让这一计划变成现实。Android Market推出了这一平台的计费系统，可以为开发商创造除了付费下载之外的其他创收渠道。这一计费系统的出炉，还将催生出应用内置内容更新、虚拟商品交易、先试用后付费的内容更新、订阅服务等多种新型运营模式。

毫无疑问，这一点才是该应用商店最重要的变化。尽管Android Market的网页体验很不理想，但却丝毫无损Android平台的飞跃发展，真正让Android的前途蒙上阴影的却是该平台的并不乐观的应用销售情况。就连Android平台经理Eric Chu也不得不承认，谷歌对Android Market的产品销售情况很不满意。

现在有了应用内置付费功能，这一情况应该会有所改观。据应用计费及分析服务公司Bango的报告显示，今年的应用内置付费功能交易增长率将超过600%，几乎占所有手机应用营收的30%。

除此之外，应用分析公司Flurry的报告也指出，在手机社交游戏领域中，应用内置付费功能创造的营收占据了80%。

据游戏邦了解，早在谷歌采取行动之前，Zong和Boku等移动计费服务公司已率先针对Android平台推出了第三方计费解决方案，它们所提供的服务选项仍然很管用。因为谷歌版的应用计费系统，只适用于拥有Google Checkout商业帐户的开发商，同时只有下载了最新版本的Android Market、运行于Android 2.3以上版本的用户才能体验这一服务。除此之外，谷歌版应用计费系统不可用于出售实体商品，个人服务或其他需要运输实物的服务产品。

不过，谷歌计费系统现在还不能马上投入使用，目前只针对Android Market客户端推出了更新版本，以便开发商首先测试这项新服务。游戏邦获悉，谷歌的目标是在本季度末正式向终端用户推出这项服务。

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用户货币选项

Android Market的另一个重大计费服务变化就是增加了用户货币选项，支持开发商针对不同市场为应用产品设置不同售价，可通过用户所在国的货币进行计费，强化用户的消费体验。

终端用户会发现，付费应用都会标注“~”这个符号，代表产品的售价区间。因为货币汇率会发生变化，所以这个符号可以指明产品的奇零价格。例如，~3.17美元（热门应用ADW的售价），或者~2.06美元（Beautiful Widgets的售价）。这项服务可以让开发商的应用产品更具价格吸引力，同时又不需要开发商在零售价格上让步。

这项服务将首先面向美国开发商开放，然后再延伸到其他国家和地区。据谷歌所称，这项服务应该会在今年第四个月内登台。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Yesterday, Google launched its highly anticipated Android Market refresh, an update which now offers consumers the ability to browse and search for mobile applications from their desktop computer and then download those apps to their phone or tablet wirelessly. The experience is a vast improvement over the previous version of the Android Market, which oddly enough, didn’t even offer search functionality.

But while the front-facing features of the new Market got a lot of press, there were also two important changes for developers to take note of: added support for buyer’s currency and in-app purchases.

In-App Purchases

Google had been promising in-app billing support for some time, but finally made good on that yesterday, with the announcement that in-app billing has now arrived in the Android Market. This means that developers who want to monetize their apps using a different paradigm than simply charging for the app itself now have the option to do so. The addition will give rise to a number of new business models for monetizing applications including in-app upgrades, virtual goods purchases, try then buy upgrades, subscriptions and more.

This is arguably the most important change out of all the announced improvements yesterday, since clearly a poor Web experience has done nothing to stifle Android’s explosive growth. What has been affecting Android’s true potential, however, is the lack of app sales – and that’s according to Android Platform Manager Eric Chu. At last week’s Social Apps Conference in San Francisco, he even admitted that Google was “unhappy” about the purchases of paid applications in its marketplace.

But in-app purchases have the potential to shake up the market. In fact, according to a recent report from billing and analytics firm Bango, in-app purchases will grow over 600% this year to account for nearly 30% of all mobile app payments.

In addition, a separate report from analytics firm Flurry noted that in-app purchases accounted for 80% of revenues generated by mobile developers with apps in the social networking and social gaming categories.

Prior to Google’s official support, mobile payments companies like Zong and Boku have been offering similar solutions for developers who couldn’t wait for Google to roll out this much-needed monetization option. Those alternatives will still remain useful, especially for developers limited by Google’s version of in-app billing – it requires developers to have a Google Checkout merchant account and consumers to have the most recent version of the Android Market application and a device running Android 2.3 or higher. Also, it cannot be used for selling physical goods, personal services or anything that requires a physical delivery.

Google’s in-app billing support is not immediately available. Instead, the company will be rolling out updates to the Android Market client so developers can begin testing the new service. The goalis to have the service live for end users by the end of the quarter. Developers can read more about this option here or view the release information here.

Buyer’s Currency Changes

Another change in the Android Market’s billing options is the addition of Buyer’s Currency support. This means that developers can price their applications differently in different markets while also improving the end user experience by displaying prices in that person’s home currency.

As an end user, you may have noticed that paid applications are denoted with this symbol “~” – the punctuation mark meaning “approximately”. Due to currency conversions, this leads to odd prices, like ~$3.17 (the price for the popular launcher app ADW) or ~$2.06 (the price for the top paid widget app Beautiful Widgets). With Buyer’s Currency support, those developers could make the app’s price seem more attractive to shoppers by sticking to the retailing designations we’re comfortable with – for example, in the U.S., that would be prices that end in $.99.

This option will roll out to U.S. developers first, then other supported countries afterwards. Google says it expects the process to complete within fourth months.（source:readwriteweb）