By While still not a whole lot is known about what Google plans to do with the Android Market backend when it undergoes maintenance downtime tomorrow, but a few interesting leads of come out way that might suggest what we can expect. It may be that the maintenance will only be preparatory and won’t coincide with the actual release of any new features, but from what has been gathered it looks like the tweaks relate to the improved web version of the Android Market shown off way back when and the more recent rumblings of PayPal support coming for app purchases.
Developer Luck has been doing some digging and found some interesting tidbits that might point towards a overhauled payment system. A page has shown up asking developers to pair up their AdSense accounts to handle revenues even if their apps don’t use any ads within them. A help page points to this as a temporary solution, hinting that new payment methods are on the way:
“Google Checkout is temporarily requiring developers to link to an AdSense account to receive payments. Our team is working towards adding additional payment functionality in the coming months, at which time the AdSense account may become unnecessary.”
PayPal may not be part of what is initially going down on Thursday, but “additional payment functionality” smells a lot like first-party support of the payment service.
In addition to improved payment methods, some of our own digging uncovered new backend improvements including a requirement that developers submit a higher res (512×512) application icon (presumably for blown up display in a desktop browser) and can additionally add a link to a YouTube promo video or 1024×500 feature graphic. If these features don’t sound like they are meant for an in-depth browser-based Market that I don’t know what is.
Like I said, it could be that we don’t see the immediate effects of any changes until the announcement of Gingerbread, but that shouldn’t be too far off. The timing seems too perfect for the matters to be unrelated.
[Thanks Luck!]
Well, I found something new. I’m on a Mytouch 3G,
When I went to update my stuff, it said I could update all at once. Woot right?
1.6
I wouldn’t be surprised if the 512×512 requirement was for the use, also, on higher resolution screens, non? Not just future tablets, but TVs should they get access to the market.
@para that was a 2.2 update.I heard it was hitting other versions of android though the last time the market did an update! But that is not part of the dev update.
I think they need to implement some security within the Marketplace, so that a password is required before making a purchase. I’m not fond of the idea of potentially losing my phone or loaning it to someone and them having access to purchase things without my input.
Weirdly, yesterday afternoon, when I went to look for updates, Market asked me to enter “Captcha-type” passwords (I think it was three times; I might’ve got the first two wrong, however. May not be related to the update, but this is the first time that’s ever happened.
This will be a welcome addition since the Android Market and Google Apps can’t play together. I would have purchased a lot of apps there if Google Checkout worked with Google Apps. For such a brilliant company, Google sometimes does some really stupid things.