Mobile social gaming company, PapayaMobile, is betting on the huge potential of Android.

The Beijing-based company recently announced a comprehensive monetisation solution for Android developers.

And, it continues to brace for broad international growth with a focus on China.

We caught up with CEO, Si Shen, to learn more about what PapayaMobile is doing and where it's going.

Pocket Gamer: What does PapayaMobile's platform mean for developers?

Si Shen: Monetisation has been an issue for a lot of Android developers. Android doesn't provide its own in-app purchase and Google Checkout is limited.

Papaya provides the first in-app purchase system on Android with different billing channels for developers including one-click credit card payment, PayPal, Google Checkout, and carrier billing. We think it will facilitate the whole development community to better monetise their applications and benefit the whole Android ecosystem.

How is Papaya addressing the challenge of virality on mobile?

Papaya's Social SDK provides viral features such as news feeds, notifications, chats, invitations, and even location based services to thirdparty developers to help their users meet new users and recommend applications and games to their friends.

Invitations could be sent out by emails or SMS, and we've already seen this strategy work when Papaya Fish launched with 30,000 downloads in the first day.

Why only Android?

It is just a strategic decision for Papaya to be focusing on Android, as Android is the fastest growing smartphone platform.

We see the huge potential on Android as it's an open platform that is exploding in international markets. Android is also independent of the mobile carriers and many carriers have Android phones. Once Papaya has established its presence on Android, we will start to expand to other relevant platforms.

How are you encouraging developers to create content for your platform?

Developers do not have to create content specifically for our platform. They can use any existing content, integrate Papaya's Social SDK and billing system, and they can start to benefit right away.

Do you see China as your biggest opportunity?

Absolutely. We are very excited about the opportunity in China. Believe it or not, China is already the second largest Android market in the world behind the US and I expect it to become the first place in 2011.

Since a large part of our company is based in China, we have the unique resources to work very closely with the local OEMs and carriers to deploy our platform strategy in China. We will have exciting news for the Chinese market very soon.

Aren't your users are mainly in the US though?

Yes, the majority of our four million users are primarily in the US. We don't count China in this figure however. We're about to hit one million users in China soon.

We're growing fast as we opened our SDKs three months ago and now have the developers of over 100 applications and games working with us. They bring a reach of several million users.

How are you looking to increase your user base?

In future, we will rely on the platform to grow user base rather than our own games. We are working very hard to serve our developers better so that we can help them attract more users. By doing so we increase our own user base at the same time.

What's the significance of the DeNA-ngmoco deal to the sector?

We really respect what DeNA has done in Japan, and ngmoco has made some amazing mobile games on iPhone too. We believe their combination can make great things happen in the US.

I think Papaya is approaching the market in a different angle though, given our focus on Android and the open strategy. I think we are going to serve different developers or the different developer needs.

What are the future mobile trends Papaya will be tapping into?

Cross-platform, be open, and be social are the future mobile trends. Virality is still going to be the hottest topic for all application developers.

Papaya is going to explore in these areas and will be opening more of our infrastructure in the future. We will have announcement of our new development very soon.

Thanks to Si Shen for her time.

You can find out more about PayapaMobile via its website.