Google Rolls Out New Monetization Features For App Developers

Google has announced some new ways for users to pay for apps and subscriptions.

In a lengthy blog post this week tied to its I/O developer conference, the company listed several new features of its monetization strategy, including a reduction in the minimum price developers can set for paid apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions in 20 new markets across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific.

Another feature is the pending launch of multi-quantity purchases, which allows users to buy more than one item at a time from the cart, and multi-line subscriptions, which lets sellers include multiple products as part of one subscription.

In addition, Google touted the future rollout of prepaid plans, in which users can access site content for a fixed amount of time, with the option to extend at any time.

Google also said that the service fee tier it had announced to help boost developer success on Google Play will be 15 percent beginning July 1 rather than 30 percent for the first $1 million in earnings each year, as previously announced.

“You’ll be able to enroll for the new rate in Play Console the week of June 7th, so we’re sharing details about the process now to give you time to get ready,” the blog post said.

The tech giant says it also wants users to understand engagement and monetization trends and to optimize product plans, which is why they’ve “taken the best of our ecosystem data and contextualized your performance against peersets.” Users can access a company I/O secession to learn more.

Google also unveiled several updates to a number of features like maps and photos, which Reuters says indicate the company is looking to demonstrate its advancements in artificial intelligence, or AI. These features are also designed to help Google’s smartwatch efforts, a field where it competes with companies like Microsoft and Apple.