Becoming a Registered Developer

Google makes it really easy to publish your application on the official Android Market. All you have to do is register an Android developer account for a one-time fee of $25 USD. Depending on the country you live in, this account will allow you to put free and/or paid applications on the market. Google is working hard to expand the number of countries where you can sell your applications.

To register an account, visit https://market.android.com/publish/signup and follow the instructions given there.

In addition to your Android developer account, you will also need to register for a free Google Checkout merchant account if you want to sell your applications. You will have the option to do this during the developer account sign-up process. We're not lawyers, so we can't give you any legal advice at this point. Make sure you understand the legal implications of selling an application before you do so. If in doubt, consider consulting an expert on the matter. We don't mean to scare you off by this, as the process is pretty streamlined in general, but you should be prepared to keep your government's tax department apprised about what you are doing.

Google will take 30 percent of your hard-earned money for distributing your app and providing the infrastructure. That seems to be pretty much the standard cut taken by all the application stores on the various platforms.