Android, Google’s Linux-based mobile operating system, just added one more reason for developers to get on board: the Android Market now supports payments in twenty more countries. This means that developers countries 20 more countries have an official way to monetize their Android application offerings. With this announcement, the total number of countries with support for paid application sales stands at 29 countries. The new countries with support for paid application sales include:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• Denmark
• Finland
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Israel
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Portugal
• Russia
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan

The good news does not end there. Over the coming two weeks, the Android Market is set to open up to 18 countries, allowing users in 18 new countries to purchase paid apps from Android Market. The 18 countries that will soon be able to buy apps from the Android Market are:

• Argentina
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• Hong Kong
• India
• Ireland
• Israel
• Mexico
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Russia
• Singapore
• Sweden
• Taiwan

Previously, in countries where Google did not support payment through Android Market, developers allowed applications to be ‘unlocked’ after a payment made through PayPal. Google’s announcement should simplify that process considerably. This move should bring more content developers on board, allowing Google to capture more than its present 9% of the smartphone market share. Google has also announced that paid application support will soon be available in India, one of the world’s largest smart phone markets. One major issue that Android developers face is with the wide variety of hardware that Android presently runs on; making it difficult to develop applications that work on all Android based phones.