Google makes Android Market changes official

It's official, folks -- those changes to the Android Market we've been talking about, and many of you have been seeing already, including the dreaded 15 minute return window, are now Android Market policy. People who have registered as a developer for the Market have received a friendly e-mail from Google explaining all the changes. There's nothing new they have to add, and most of the changes are in the way that applications are listed to help make things a bit better for the consumer, like more and better image previews and AT&T carrier billing. The full announcement follows the break.

Hello,

We're writing to inform you about some changes to Android Market that require your attention.

As we mentioned in an email sent last week, we’ve been updating Android Market with several new features that may affect your applications. That update is now complete and the features are now active:

* The purchase refund period is now 15 minutes, and the maximum size for .apk files is now 50MB.

* The details page for every app now displays the app’s “Promotional Graphic” assets at the top.

* Market is now capable of filtering based on screen sizes and densities. NOTE: Filtering based on GL texture compression formats is not active at this time, but will be available in early January 2011.

* Applications are now automatically added to new Live Wallpapers and Widgets categories, as appropriate.

We’ve also activated two new features on the Publisher site:

* The maximum size of the description field for an application is raised to 4000 characters.

* A minimum of two screen shots is now required for all applications. You can supply up to eight screenshots for each application.

Additionally, we’ve recently redesigned the categories on Android Market to better support users and developers. We’ve split some popular categories, renamed others, and added completely new categories. At this time, we recommend that you take a look at the categories and ensure that your applications are assigned to the best categories for them. For details, see the Android Market Help Center:

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=113475

Finally, we wanted to bring to your attention that Android Market now offers a new form of payment for users on the AT&T network -- Direct Carrier Billing. This payment option lets Android users on the AT&T network purchase applications more easily.

Thank you once again for your continued support of Android Market.

Regards,
The Android Market Team