On the consumer side, we are presented a list of free and paid apps on an app store and Google Play is no different. Paid apps are a way for developers to make money and we have seen this sector grow fast in the last decade.
However, you will be surprised to know that not all developers have been able to publish paid apps directly to the Play Store. There are two types of accounts that are available to developers: Google Developer account and a Google Merchant Account. You can publish free apps with the developer account but you need a Google Merchant account to publish paid apps and in-app purchases.
This has not been the case in African countries and Kenya has now part of the list of African countries where developers can now have a merchant account.
Kenya now joins South Africa (which was included last year), Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe in the list of countries where developers can have merchant accounts to sell apps.
Unlike South Africa, the developer default currency for Kenya will be the US dollar. South Africa is the only country in Africa where the default developer currency is the local currency (Rand).
Previously, people used a sneaky way to publish paid apps by setting up offshore accounts so that they can sell their apps.
This news follows the integration of M-PESA Xpress billing on the Google Play Store a few months ago. This allows one to purchase apps on the Play Store which are charged directly from their M-PESA accounts.
