Lithuania-originated GetJar claims to be the world’s largest free app store with over 2 billion downloads to date. The company distributes more than 350,000 mobile applications for Android and today the company has released a virtual currency that rewards Android users for downloading any app, and allows them to spend that currency on premium apps and in-app purchases.
Consumers earn GetJar Gold virtual currency by downloading any Android apps, and can spend it on premium apps and in-app purchases. GetJar Gold virtual currency can be used with any Android apps from any app store, including GetJar, Android Market and Amazon. Developers can use the GetJar SDK to support GetJar Gold virtual currency for in-app transactions as well as upgrades from free to premium versions of their app. Virtual currency collected by app developers can be exchanged with GetJar for real dollars.
“The virtual nature of the currency and its linking to the global advertising spend solve two major problems that the traditional billing platforms have struggled with — low conversions due to the complicated user experience and the lack of access to global markets,” said GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs. “Our early results are showing significant increases in both revenue and conversion, and we expect developers will experience an increase of up to 10X for participating.”
Having control of a virtual currency used by a wide number of android apps sounds like a great move for GetJar, as long as they can keep bringing in users and getting them to stay within the network.
