Google's announcements on Thursday brought plenty to cheer to both Android developers and end-users in India.
Google announced that Indian developers will be able to
monetize their apps via paid applications, in-app products, and subscriptions. Further, Google announced that end users will be able to pay for their purchases in Indian rupees, ensuring greater transparency over the amount charged and, possibly,
better deals on apps via country-specific pricing.
Google shared these two announcements via a
blog post. In the same blog post, Google also shared some interesting stats with respect to Android usage in India. First, the number of activations. According to Google, over the past year, Android device activations in India have jumped more than 400%. It is not clear if Google is referring to the number of activations per day, or the total devices activated till date, but either way, those are impressive numbers.
Google added that in the last six months, Android users in India downloaded more apps than in the previous three years combined, making India the fourth-largest market worldwide for app downloads in the process.