Android Market Apps Will Soon Require Content Ratings

Eric Chu, head of the Google Android Developer Ecosystem announced today that Android Market apps will now require a content rating before they can go live in the market and be placed in the appropriate content category.

The levels should be familiar to gaming and iPhone users as they are based on the same alcohol and drugs, offensive speech, violence and sex ratings as those systems. Also included is whether or not the games offer location based services and user-to-user chat capabilities.

Don’t want to rate your app? It will automatically receive a “Mature” label which may restrict sales of the application, even if it’s family friendly but was not rated.

Google has promised more new Android Market features in the “coming weeks” which will more than likely arrive with the official release of Android 2.3.