Google defers in-app purchase commission cut

BENGALURU: Google has deferred its billing policy aimed to cut 30 percent commission for in-app purchases from developers till September, 2021, the tech giant said on Monday. The announcement comes days after industry rival Apple said that it will reduce its commission on its app store to 15 percent from 30 percent for app developers with yearly proceeds of less than 1 million a year.

Google faced backlash for its billing policy in the US, India and South Korea where it is facing anti-trust probes. In India, Google has deferred its billing policy to April, 2022 after startups took the matter to the regulatory authorities, alleging that the search engine giant is misusing its dominant position in the Android market (nearly 97% market share in India). 

In the US, Google is facing the biggest ever anti-trust probe in decades with the US department of Justice alleging that the tech giant is maintaining its monopoly in the market through unhealthy practices and paying millions of dollars to other companies to promote its search engine in its products. 

Experts say that the chances of the Joe Biden-led US government backing out of the lawsuit against Google are highly unlikely. The tech giant based out of California, on its part, has said that its billing policy was already in place and that 97% of those who sell their digital goods use it.

“We’re extending the time for developers in India to integrate with the Play billing system, to ensure they have enough time to implement the UPI for subscription payment option that will be made available on Google Play - for all apps that are yet to launch, or that currently use an alternative payment system, we set a timeline of March 31, 2022,” Purnima Kochikar, Director of Business Development, Games & Applications, Google Play earlier said in a blog post.

In murky waters

Google has recently faced backlash for its billing policy in the US, India and South Korea where it is facing anti-trust probes.