Google said today that it will start offering UK user selection billing, giving Google Play developers the opportunity to use other billing options instead of its Google system. The change begins on March 29, initially only for non-play developers.
If developers choose it, they cannot completely replace Google Play billing. Instead, the third party road will be offered as an option.
The developer who chooses to use an alternative billing option get a 4% discount from the fees they pay for Google (to calculate the fees that third parties can also pay). Google usually receives a reduction of up to 30% in transactions within the app and paid downloads.
In a blog post announcing the change, Google claimed that more than 90% of developers on his platform are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the local Google Play billing. However, she added, “We admit that some developers may want more choices in the way they process payments. This start enables developers to offer an additional billing system along with Google Play’s billing system and users can choose which option to use in the checkout.”
Backsory is a little less pink than Google just to be a good guy.
Google movement is actually a long -awaited response to an inquiry of the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) dating back to 2022.
At the time, the competition supervisor published a report based on a one -year study of the mobile ecosystem and noted that both Google and Apple power in the market could be subject to regulatory control. Company app stores-where they were the only billing providers within the app for their respective platforms-there was a special concentration point when investigating the status of Google and Apple anti-incompetitive duopolites.
That was just the beginning. In 2023, Google proposed to be able to offer user selection billing to developers to solve the antitrust probe. In response, the CMA opened a consultation and invited the developers to provide feedback on the Google proposal.
CMA eventually closed the investigation against Google and Apple last year, stressing that she planned to use regulatory reforms, such as the Draft Law on Digital Market Competition, to fix these companies in the mobile market.
Meanwhile, Google has allowed billing from third parties elsewhere in response to regulatory pressure to open its app store for more competition.
Places where Google already offers user selection billing include SH.BA as well as India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan and European Economic Zone (EEA), which follow the same commissions and charges as in the UK
