This particular anti-trust lawsuit granted victory to its accusers Epic Games but they were not the sole party fighting this case. A combination of 50 attorney generals united and settled a similar case three months back.
Now, we’re seeing Google agree upon handing down results linked to $700 million in payout and some minor concessions being made too. This has to do with how the Play Store works across the US.
Moreover, the largest change of them all is reportedly tied to Google allowing developers to take some of its customers linked to the Play Store for a few years, in case the settlement is finalized.
This particular settlement features a staggering 68-page summary of what all it entails but we’ve generated a summary regarding it for you below.
As a whole, $700 million would be the total payment made by the tech giant which is nearly 3 weeks of operating profits generated solely through the app store. Out of this, $629,000 would be released to those who may have paid extra for the company’s apps or any purchases done online through Google Play, minus the great figure of taxes, fees of lawyers, and more.
Furthermore, $70 million of the total goes to those American states and would be used for purposes outlined by their Attorney Generals. And then $1 million is used for administration settlements.
For a staggering 7 years, we will see the company enable Android so that it can install apps from other parties involved through Mobile Devices. This is other than the usual Google Play. On the other hand, for 5 years, we’ll see the company enable developers to give alternatives for billing systems through the app via a feature dubbed Choice Billing.
Then for another 5 years, we’ll see Google take a back seat as developers can offer any price they seem as a fit for clients picking Google Play and its respective Billing option. This is just many of the clauses outlined and it’s a huge setback for the Android maker for obvious reasons.
While it might sound like a huge deal and a lot to compromise on Google’s part, critics agree that the amendments are not coming slowly and will ultimately result in a unique Google App Store landscape that most of us are rarely accustomed to. When you look at the way Google has been working in the last decade, this new picture is very different from that. However, it’s important to mention that not all of the changes are real concessions, and let’s not forget how they come attached with expiration dates. Hence, it’s not everlasting. Meanwhile, a lot of the changes outlined are linked to the company’s User Choice Billing endeavor which was dubbed fake in the past as proven by Google.
As confirmed by Google, the spokesperson added how the participants from the Choice Billing are given discounted rates of 4% from what Google charges users via its respective payment offerings. This will not change due to this settlement. The company found out how developers were losing out on funds when users opted for 4%. At the same time, the search engine giant claims firms such as Spotify were getting a free ride while billing others in the industry.
The most important thing here is linked to the search engine giant preventing company developers from adding links to their respective websites so users would attain discounted rates. Today, Google does not need to give developers the chance to add links that take users outside the app outlined via the Google Play store for making purchasing decisions.
It’s going to be interesting to figure out how Apple will enable links via buttons to other modes of payments as that’s yet to be discussed.
Meanwhile, as far as this particular settlement is concerned, the American states will request the judge to give out a final settlement by the first week of February. This is the same person in charge of overlooking the Epic Games versus Google endeavor.
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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
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