Google opens the door to paid apps in 12 more countries

Google doesn’t restrict which apps people can buy based on the country they live in but it does prevent developers in certain countries from submitting paid apps to the Google Play Store, limiting them to just free apps. The list of countries where this is the case shrank by 12 earlier this week after Google opened to doors to paid app submission in: Bahrain, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Honduras, Jamaica, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta , and Panama.

Developers can be found all over the world, toiling away for hours on a computer as they build cool apps and games for our gadgets. Most of them would like to earn a few duckets for their work, but that’s not always possible with certain types of apps and games. Today, the doors are open for developers from 12 additional countries to register for merchant accounts and begin selling paid apps to the world. Just to clarify, it was already possible for customers in these countries to buy paid apps and make in-app purchases, but developers registered in these countries were limited to submitting only free apps without IAPs – until now. Without support for merchant accounts, developers usually have to rely on advertising revenue, if they can get it, or turn to alternate business models.