There is a lot to expect in the New Year, with reference to Android Market.

As announced earlier, Android Market will soon allow developers to sell their applications.  This is expected in the Q1 time frame of 2009.   The payment agreement as per the official post, would be 70:30;  developers getting the major share and the rest towards the Carrier charges.  Yes, you read it right - Google doesn’t get a dime!!

Support for paid applications can be initially expected in the USA and UK regions.  Then the support might spread to Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Spain, once the Android Market sets its foot.

This is a really good news for passionate Android developers, who can now boast with the likes of iPhone developers, who make handsome money through their applications.  So, let’s Go Android in 2009!!

In line to boost the Android Market, Google has released a new G1 handset especially targeted at Android Developers.

This new phone is both SIM and hardware unlocked and available for all developers registered at Android Market. In short, Android Market is an open distribution system for the applications developed by developers to the handset users. Here, you can read more about the Android Market program.

Following is an extract from the announcement in the Talk Android blog, regarding the new handset:

The Android Dev Phone 1 is a SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked device that is designed for advanced developers. The device ships with a system image that is fully compatible with Android 1.0, so you can rely on it when developing your applications. You can use any SIM in the device and can flash custom Android builds that will work with the unlocked bootloader. Unlike the bootloader on retail devices, the bootloader on the Android Dev Phone 1 does not enforce signed system images. The Android Dev Phone 1 should also appeal to developers who live outside of T-Mobile geographies.

This Dev Phone is priced at $399 and available in 18 countries, including India.