14 DAY TRIAL // The Google Chrome Web Store, which was designed to revolutionize the way web applications are sold or arrive in front of users, has been live for more than half a year now.
It hasn't been a resounding success, but things like this take time. Google is now expanding the Store to more international markets and is also showcasing the new In-App Payments option for developers.
"Since Google I/O, we’ve been working hard to make the Chrome Web Store available to more users around the world as well as to provide additional monetization opportunities for developers," Elvin Lee, software engineer at Google, wrote.
"We recently launched the much awaited In App Payments API in the US," he announced
"This API provides a simple and effective way to monetize your apps in the Chrome Web Store, allowing you to complete transactions with buyers from 140 countries," he explained.
In-App Payments are supported in 140 countries, enabling developers to make money from virtual items in games, or by unlocking certain functionality, while still offering the base apps for free.
But there are new opportunities for making money by selling apps as well, as the Web Store can now accept paid apps from developers in a lot more countries, many in Europe, but from several other places as well.
These apps will only start being available to users at a later point, developers can only submit them for now.
There's also another interesting option, developers can now target specific markets, if a service is only available in one country, there's no point in allowing everyone to install an app that will not work for all and will likely lead to disappointed users.
Developers already had the option to target only several countries, but there are now several times more options.