Looks like the Android Market transition to the Google Play Store wasn't the only change Google was making. Eric Chu, Android team member and overseer of the Android Market for over four years, is exploring other positions within the company.
Replacing him will be Jamie Rosenberg, director of digital content for Android, and the public face of the Google Music launch. Though his title isn't changing, Rosenberg will get increased oversight for apps and games. Rosenberg hails from Microsoft, and before that from Andy Rubin's past company Danger, where he served as vice president of premium services.
According to sources, the management of the Android Market had two heads, Eric Chu heading up developer relations and business development, and David Conway in charge of product management. Having two equal leaders overseeing the team led to some confusion as to who was in charge and caused some political issues. Shifting to a single leader in Rosenberg seems like a good move.
The Android Market was also given lower priority since the success of the platform is typically gauged mainly on device activations and search revenue, leaving the market team needing more resources. Improvements to the market that Chu helped roll out include in-app billing in March of last year, and higher exposure to apps in May.
These improvements have helped increase revenue from the market, but is it enough? Just this past week developer Mika Mobile decided to stop supporting Android because the time investment needed to support many OS versions and individual handsets was higher than the amount of money they were making. This is not to say there haven't been many developer success stories, but these type of public announcements of quitting Android do not help PR for Google's platform.
Hopefully the change in management will bring with it more improvements and better revenues for both developers and Google. Only time will tell what this shift will deliver.
source: techcrunch
One thing the market definitely needs is alternate methods of payment. Gift cards are a must and for younger people they are the only mean of paying for anything bought online. iTunes strenght comes in the fact that anyone can buy off it and the gift cards are available everywhere. With the unification of the variety of services into the Play banner, I think it’s time Google gives us gift card to go along with that.