Anti-competitive organizations aren’t just targeting Apple and its App Store. Google also announced a lower commission on the Play Store, which has been scrutinized. In the first month, Google’s app store commission will be 15 percent instead of 30 percent. The news is shocking, but there’s a catch.
Google revealed that the Play Store commissions would be reduced in a blog post published on October 21. The rate paid to developers on the initial subscriptions to a subscription will increase to 15% on January 1, 2022. Previously, the fee was 30%, with a 15% boost if a user stayed a member for more than 12 months in a row. A dwindling system that few developers could take advantage of because of Internet users’ erratic nature, which enraged them.
Google will be more lenient with providers that charge a monthly fee for music or e-books. The commission will be reduced to 10%, rather than 15%, for them. This change is almost certainly designed to soothe tensions with Spotify, which has been irritated by Google’s revenue model to the point of barring consumers from subscribing through the app store. A move that might result in the reintroduction of the music streaming service to its shop, as well as the avoidance of a lawsuit against the Mountain View company.
This is not a simple decision to make. While Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple will be continued in a new round, lawmakers are upping their pressure on Google and Apple. In South Korea, for example, the two major app shops are no longer allowed to force developers to use their payment methods. Several large corporations have also banded together under the Coalition for App Fairness umbrella, a lobbying group aimed at getting the two behemoths to lower their rates.
Google notes in a statement that it made this decision after “listening to developers across numerous sectors and countries.” They are deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafen. The new commission is solely concerned with subscriptions. All in-app transactions, such as purchasing cosmetics in a game or removing advertising from an app, will continue to be taxed at 30%.
