Category: Cyprus

I live in Cyprus for many years now. It is a beautiful little island in Mediterranean Sea. It features warm weather for most of the year, sea, very kind and hospital people, plenty of jobs in IT industry, good food and plenty of alcohol, stable currency, and more. It’s really a nice place to live if you can handle small towns and villages. It’s also a great place to raise the kids.

Not much happens here. It is a quiet and simple place. Yet, when something happens or when I write about it, I post it to Cyprus category.

Almost a third at risk of poverty

Cyprus Mail reports:

ALMOST ONE third of Cyprus is at risk of poverty and social exclusion, according to figures released by the statistical service that show an increasing trend since 2008.

The latest numbers show that in 2013, the risk was 27.8 per cent compared to 23.3 per cent in 2008, both of which are way off the national target of 19.8 per cent.

One measurement new to me was the “material deprivation” items:

In 2013, 16.1 per cent of the population in 2013 could not afford to pay at least four out of nine ‘material deprivation’ items. These are the ability to pay rent or utility bills, to cover unexpected charges, to keep their home adequately heated, to eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, to take a week’s holiday away from home, or to buy a car, washing machine, colour TV and telephone.

Now that puts it a bit into a perspective … “at least four out of nine”.

Cyprus developers can now sell paid apps on Google Play Store

Android Police reports exciting news:

Today, the doors are open for developers from 12 additional countries to register for merchant accounts and begin selling paid apps to the world.

Support for merchant accounts has been added for:

  • Bahrain
  • Bolivia
  • Bulgaria
  • Cyprus
  • Dominican Republic
  • Estonia
  • Honduras
  • Jamaica
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Panama

Just to clarify, it was already possible for customers in these countries to buy paid apps and make in-app purchases, but developers registered in these countries were limited to submitting only free apps without IAPs – until now. Without support for merchant accounts, developers usually have to rely on advertising revenue, if they can get it, or turn to alternate business models.

Out of the 152 countries Google Play currently accepts for developer registration, 74 now support merchant accounts.

This has been a long time awaited update!