It also refuses to let other app stores buy advertising on its search engine or popular video streaming platform YouTube. For example, it refuses to allow other app stores to be downloaded from its Google Play Store, which comes preinstalled on all Android smartphones. While Google allows other app stores, the search giant has taken steps to ensure that none of them gain traction, the complaint says. New details: In their complaint, the states alleged that Google controls 90 percent of the market for Android apps, and no other Android app store has more than a 5 percent market share. The Android-maker also announced a program last month to let developers of video, audio and e-book services also pay a 15 percent commission on sales. Google has sought to quell some of the unhappiness by lowering commissions to 15 percent on the first $1 million in sales, mirroring a small business program that Apple introduced in 2020. That led to uproar from companies including Netflix, Spotify and Match Group, which have bypassed Google’s commissions. It would start enforcing its payment rules this coming September. While Google has long had a policy that app developers must use its payment system for purchases made through the Play Store, the company has only loosely enforced the rule. (“In fact, most Android devices ship with two or more app stores preloaded,” Google said in its blog post.) That differs from the setup on iPhones, where Apple’s App Store is the only source where users are allowed to obtain apps. and Australia have also opened probes into the search giant’s dominance in the industry.īackground: Google’s Play Store is the default app store on Android phones, although users of those devices can also download apps from stores operated by companies like Amazon or Samsung - or even install them directly from other random sources. The suit is the first to challenge Google’s control in the mobile app store market, though antitrust authorities in the U.K. It will be heard by the same judge, James Donato, an Obama appointee, who has scheduled a trial in Epic’s suit against Google for April 2022. The bipartisan group of state attorneys general filed Wednesday’s case in the same court as those other app store lawsuits. The case mirrors one filed against Google by Fortnite-make Epic Games last August, and a barrage of antitrust class actions filed on behalf of app developers and consumers who allege Google’s policies have led to higher prices. The change is set to go into effect in September. The new case: Wednesday’s suit is the latest challenge to the search giant’s plan to force all app developers who use its Google Play Store to pay a 30 percent commission on sales of digital goods or services.
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