Android Market Offers Paid Apps for Japan

I just happen to run across this from the Washington Post's online technology section:

Now it appears that paid apps have finally come to Japan.

As we wrote in May, the country?s largest telecommunications company, NTT, has picked up the rights to distribute the first mobile phone that uses the Android OS in Japan. The first paid apps hit the Android Market today for Japanese users. The apps are listed on the Japanese version of AndroLib, which lists applications and games for Android for various countries.

Android stands to be a huge deal in Japan, and we hear that 25 to 30 percent of AndroLib's visitors are from Japan, which could make the availability of paid apps in Japan a large market opportunity for developers.

I could handle a boost in sales from paid apps now being offered in Japan.

I checked out my developer interface and it looks like Japan is now listed as a target for paid apps. Now this is a little strange, because I've been working on a deal with a reseller in Japan to distribute my paid apps, and they supposedly starting selling this month. It will be interesting to see how the numbers compare.