Today was Google’s deadline to reveal how it will comply with Judge James Donato’s order to open Android to third-party app stores, stop illegally linking Google Play’s billing system to its own app store, and allow developers to link ways to download their apps outside of the US Play Store.
But Google doesn’t just let app developers do things how they want, whenever they want. The company has quietly updated its support pages with a January 28 deadline for Google registration set Programs For “Alternate Billing” and “Links to external content” -And those programs will come with their own significant replacement fees, assuming Judge Donato doesn’t choose Epic and Google’s proposed settlement instead.
Although it hasn’t collected the fee yet, Google says it will charge developers $2.85 For every application And $3.65 For every game The user installs within 24 hours of clicking on the link which takes you outside the Google Play Store to download outside the Google ecosystem.
Additionally, you will be discounted 20% off any in-app purchases and 10% off any automatically renewing subscriptions. Apps still need to be submitted to Google for review, use a Google API to track them, and developers must report all transactions (including $0 free trials) if they want to participate.
Meanwhile, developers who want to offer their own billing solutions will only get a 5 percent discount compared to Google’s current fees, making it not worth the effort to try alternative billing at all. Google will charge 25 percent for in-app purchases and 10 percent for automatically renewing subscriptions there; Developers will need to integrate Google API to track those transactions and report all transactions within 24 hours.
The company will cap some of these fees at 10 percent of a developer’s first million dollars, making it a little easier for smaller developers, but perhaps no easier than it currently is. Google already offers a similar 15 percent limit, so this is also a 5 percent discount.
How will Judge James Donato react? When Apple told Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers it would require a 27 percent fee for third-party payments at the same time Epic against Apple In this case, Apple was found in contempt of court, and the appeals court upheld that decision just days ago. However, the appeals court suggested that Apple may be able to collect some of the fees, writing that:
Apple shall be able to charge a commission for linked purchases based on the costs truly and reasonably necessary to coordinate external links for linked purchases, but no more.
Google currently claims that “fees associated with the External Content Links Program reflect the value Android and Play deliver and support our continued investments across Android and Play.”
But Google also says it won’t collect any fees yet, writing:
In the future, Google intends to apply a service fee to successful transactions and downloads completed via external content links. However, at this time, Google does not assess these fees and therefore does not require developers in this program to report these transactions or downloads to Google.
In their joint progress report today, lawyers for Epic and Google wrote that while Epic agrees with the January 28 deadline and other requirements, “Epic has indicated that it opposes the service fees that Google has announced it may implement in the future and that Epic will challenge these fees if they go into effect.”
Of course, none of this would play out if Judge Donato accepted Google and Epic’s proposed settlement instead, which would generally apply worldwide (instead of just the US) and come with lower standard transaction fees.
But Google noted that the settlement would also come with fees for replacement billing and third-party app downloads, and Judge Donato appeared skeptical of the settlement in November. He ordered an evidentiary hearing on January 22 before making a decision.
Because Google’s support pages look smooth Epic against Google It continues, We have archived copies of the current text below.