Following up on rumors the past week that Google was preparing to allow for-profit apps on the Android market, the company has now officially begun accepting those applications. Enterprising developers or software development companies can now use the Android market as a way to turn a profit. The feature is currently open only to the US version of the market and with Google Checkout as the sole payment method.
The first paid apps are expected to start showing up next week, and likely the market will soon be flooded with them. Google mentioned that paid apps were coming six months ago when the Android Market was first introduced. Hopefully they will not limit the service to Google Checkout only, as for being big on an open platform it would be surprising to see them limiting user choice in that fashion.