Building on the success of its paid apps for free Gold program, GetJar has announced Gold virtual currency.

In keeping with its free for consumers philosophy, you'll be able to earn Gold currency by downloading Android apps.

Once accumulated, you'll be able to spend Gold on paid Android apps from GetJar, Android Market and Amazon Appstore for Android, as well as for in-app purchases in games and apps that support the platform.

Cash in hand

Funding for the currency will be provided by marketing spend from publishers and content companies who want to get their apps more widely distributed on GetJar.

Of course, developers who want to take advantage of Gold virtual currency will have to integrate the GetJar SDK.

"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 conversion rates 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 10 times for participating."

[source: GetJar]