Now the Play Store will become friendlier to third-party developers.
Google, owned by Alphabet Holding (GOOGL.O), agreed to pay $700 million in fines and make a number of changes to its Play Store app store to increase competition in the market. The measures were taken as part of the settlement of an antitrust lawsuit in the United States to restrict the distribution of Android apps.
Under the agreement, which is awaiting final approval from a judge, $630 million will go to the consumer compensation fund and $70 million to a fund that will be used by the states. It is also noted that consumers who fall under the terms of the agreement will receive a minimum of $2, as well as possible additional payments depending on their expenses in the Play Store from August 16, 2016 to September 30, 2023.
The settlement agreement involved 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. They accused Google of inflating prices through restrictions on the distribution of applications on Android devices and excessive fees for transactions in the services. The company did not admit the charges, but agreed to resolve the conflict.
As part of the agreement, Google announced that it will expand the ability of app and game developers to provide alternative payment options within apps, along with the Play payment system. The company also said that it has been testing billing options of choice for users in the United States for more than a year. In addition, Google has promised to simplify the ability to download apps directly from developers.
Experts note that the agreement reached is unprecedented for the US digital industry in terms of the scale of concessions from the tech giant.
Earlier in December, Fortnite developer Epic Games won an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Corporation, the owner of Google. As a result of the antitrust trial, the jury found that the Google Play app store was abusing its dominant position.
Google, owned by Alphabet Holding (GOOGL.O), agreed to pay $700 million in fines and make a number of changes to its Play Store app store to increase competition in the market. The measures were taken as part of the settlement of an antitrust lawsuit in the United States to restrict the distribution of Android apps.
Under the agreement, which is awaiting final approval from a judge, $630 million will go to the consumer compensation fund and $70 million to a fund that will be used by the states. It is also noted that consumers who fall under the terms of the agreement will receive a minimum of $2, as well as possible additional payments depending on their expenses in the Play Store from August 16, 2016 to September 30, 2023.
The settlement agreement involved 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. They accused Google of inflating prices through restrictions on the distribution of applications on Android devices and excessive fees for transactions in the services. The company did not admit the charges, but agreed to resolve the conflict.
As part of the agreement, Google announced that it will expand the ability of app and game developers to provide alternative payment options within apps, along with the Play payment system. The company also said that it has been testing billing options of choice for users in the United States for more than a year. In addition, Google has promised to simplify the ability to download apps directly from developers.
Experts note that the agreement reached is unprecedented for the US digital industry in terms of the scale of concessions from the tech giant.
Earlier in December, Fortnite developer Epic Games won an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Corporation, the owner of Google. As a result of the antitrust trial, the jury found that the Google Play app store was abusing its dominant position.
