Google has updated the developer policies for its apps store that are aimed at making content and advertising less spammy and will give users greater transparency around what to expect from applications.

The policy updates mean that marketers will have better control over where ads appear and point to marketers increasingly seeing Android as a viable mobile advertising platform. Developers who do not abide by the new policies will have 30 days to fix issues or they risk being kicked out of Google Play.

?By introducing more stringent guidelines and blocking potentially harmful advertising, advertisers have a better chance of getting their messages seen by the people they target,? said James Hilton, CEO of M&C Saatchi Mobile, London.

?Android's growth pace in emerging and developing regions means that it needs to be protected as an advertising channel,? he said. ?If potentially harmful messages had continued, the future value of Android as an advertising platform would have been compromised."

Mobile security
The new Google policy updates clarify how advertisers cannot use personal data with in-app units. For instance, ads cannot install bookmarks, shortcuts or change default settings automatically. Ads that make these types of changes require a user?s consent and knowledge about which app has made the change.

Ads cannot force a consumer to submit personal information or click on units in order to access app content. Additionally, ads cannot warn users of system notifications or other false messages that entice users to interact with spammy advertising.

Google now classifies spam as apps that send out automatic SMS messages or emails without a consumer?s consent. Apps that drive traffic to a Web site that is not owned by the developer or use product descriptions that are loaded with keywords to throw off an app?s search results are also considered spam.

Overall, the new policy changes are a step towards creating a more trusted and secure platform for Google, which will help marketers transition more ad spend in-app units, according to Mr. Hilton.

?More than anything, this just proves what everyone who works in mobile marketing already knows ? you can't mess around with the user experience or repeat some of the mistakes of the Internet,? Mr. Hilton said.

?Advertisers have more control over what gets served through apps and users are spending increasing amounts of time in certain apps such as games, news sites and music or video,? he said. ?If other platforms don't have the same policies in place yet, they soon will."

Searching for opportunity
Google dominates in search, but with consumers increasingly switching to apps versus search engines to push information directly to them, the policy updates could be indicative that Google needs new sources of revenue, per Loren Grossman, global chief strategy officer at Rapp, New York.

"It?s an interesting and not unexpected change to their policy. The optimist in me thinks that by Google clamping down on in-app advertising it is to trying to ensure that the users have a better experience on the android platform, which has to be a good positive step forward," Mr. Grossman said.

"The pessimist in me, however, thinks that this is probably just a PR front for Google to take more control over how the app market develops," he said. "Google has already said in the past that they ultimately see this as being the No. 1 screen that consumers will engage with in the future and they intend to be a big player." 

"Apps are further fragmenting that long tail and breaking it down into specific fragments of information served directly into the consumer?s handset. Unless you control the core platform, it opens up the door for a new competitor to develop a different way to take advantage of that new network, which could ultimately cut Google out of any potential future advertising revenue."

Open ecosystem
According to some analysts, the Google update is a step in the right direction for the company but there is still work needed to make Google Play a better experience for users.

?It still puts the emphasis on providing guidelines to developers, which is a good step but it is not enough,? said Jason Armitage, London-based senior analyst at Yankee Group.

?It comes back to Google?s philosophy on having an open ecosystem, which was a good strategy in closing the gap with iOS in the catch-up phase,? he said. ?Now the challenge is for Google to take the next step in its strategy, which is to ensure that its ecosystem is best for end users and developers.?

Part of giving users a better experience means that Google has to implement more rigorous certification and testing for apps before they go live in Google Play in the future, per Mr. Armitage.

Better ad experience
According to Josh Martin, director of app research for the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA, Google?s policy update will primarily help marketers nail down context, which is a major area that mobile advertising still struggles with.

?This is important for Google because most revenue on Google Play is advertising, but they haven?t replicated the same model from online to mobile yet,? Mr. Martin said.

Although privacy remains a concern, consumers continue to download apps by the bucketful. Since the policy updates are aimed at creating higher-quality ads, marketers will be able to increase overall revenue on their initiatives.

By rejecting apps that do not adhere to the new guidelines, the move will also push developers to avoid using cheap, lower-quality ad providers, per Aapo Markkanen, London-based senior analyst for consumer mobility at ABI Research.

?The ads simply will have to avoid all sort of shoddy practices such as unauthorized push notifications, shortcut installations or changes to the device settings,? Mr. Markkanen said.

?I don?t think that any ad firm that has relied on that set of tools has had a very long-term view on the business,? he said. ?Being overly aggressive and intrusive is a sure way to alienate consumers from mobile ads, so the less there is such behavior the better.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York