Google poaches GetJar exec Mork for apps marketing role

Starts work in September as Android owner beefs up its team for the competition with Apple.

GetJar's chief marketing officer Patrick Mork has announced that he is leaving the independent app store for a new role at Google.

Mork will start as marketing director for mobile applications at Google in the first week of September. The hiring represents another boost for the Android apps ecosystem, following several improvements to Google's Android Market store in recent months.

Mork joined GetJar in October 2008 from mobile games publisher Glu Mobile. During his time there, the company grew from seven to 50 staff, and passed two billion total downloads. "As a shareholder and early employee I have every confidence the company will continue to succeed and thrive in the ever-changing apps environment," wrote Mork in an email to industry contacts breaking the job-change news.

In his time at GetJar, Mork has succeeded in raising the company's profile, often by speaking his mind on rivals and the industry.

In July this year, he publicly attacked Apple CEO Steve Jobs after GetJar received a cease and desist letter concerning its use of the phrase 'App Store'. "We were here long before Steve & Co. We were built by developers, to help developers. Not to help sell handsets or search results. In the words of Twisted Sister: We’re not going to take it! Steve Jobs isn’t our Dad," wrote Mork in a blog post.

Meanwhile, in April, he laid into Amazon after the launch of its own Android app store, criticising the company for its control over the pricing of developers' apps.

"It never ceases to surprise us how people fawn on developers to get their content and then impose draconian terms on them that make monetizing their excruciatingly painful," he wrote. "Let developers set their own price. Developers are big boys and girls. They know how important price is and they know it can only be used so often to be effective."

Mork has also given his opinion on the Android apps offering in the past, saying in April that Google should open up its in-app billing APIs to stores other than Android Market.

"Market has not proven itself to provide the best Android retail experience. This isn't our opinion.  It's a fact and it's what most developers will tell you," he said at the time.

"There are things Google should be strict about and things they shouldn't.  Google's role is to promote the OS and actions they take should be around making the OS the best possible user experience. Where Google should be more lenient is around distribution and billing.  Neither have been that good on Android despite a recent spate of improvements."

Now that Mork is on the other side of the fence, developers will be hoping he gets to put some of those views into practice. Update: ME understands that Mork's role will focus on Google's own mobile apps, rather than Android apps more generally.