Paid Android Apps Might Come on Android Market Next Week

According to the latest news on the Web, Google might start to offer paid apps in the Android Market as soon as next week. The search giant was expected for quite a while now to start offering premium, for-pay Android applications, but they were expected to surface on the Android Market only in the middle of the year.

Given the fact that T-Mobile has rolled out the Android RC33 update for its T-Mobile G1 owners in the US, Google might also gear up to add premium applications through the Android Market in the near future.

“This week Google will start allowing developers to charge for software sold through the Android Market, according to people familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal announces.

Although the article on WSJ only mentioned Google’s Android Market as part of an analysis of Microsoft’s mobile strategy, Android smartphone enthusiasts jumped on the news instantly. The article drove some to the conclusion that Google might unveil premium Android applications as soon as this week.

At the same time, it is also possible that the company will only add for-pay Android apps starting next week, which would be more likely, considering the fact that the Mobile World Congress 2009 debuts in Barcelona in the same time frame.

At the same time, it is possible for the search giant to wait for the Android RC33 update to roll-out completely, which will not happen until February 15, and unleash premium-apps only after that. On the other hand, there will still be a lot of devices still running the pre-RC33 firmware, although the RC33 update will already be available. Considering that Google would wait for the update to finish rolling out, the launch of premium Android apps will be pushed until at least next week.


For what it's worth, the for-paid apps will become available sooner or later, we'll just have to be a little patient.