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Google Ordered to Support Alternative App Stores and Payment Methods in Play Store

MacRumors said:




Google will need to allow Android users to download rival app stores like the Epic Games Store from within Google Play, plus it is required to allow third-party app stores to distribute Google Play apps, unless developers opt out of providing their apps through the alternative app stores.
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I want to preface with, I prefer Apple's walled garden, but I also think its not fair for my wants to be forced onto everyone else.

But I don't understand how this is ok.... Is it an appropriate comparison to say this is like a judge ordering Walmart to carry and sell Target branded items in their store?
 
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All this "forced alt store" BS and no one has stopped to ask if the App publishers, or end users, want multiple stores?
I don't.
I don't want fragmentation.
I don't want to have to fill out more forms, prove ID, upload specially built versions of my App that include payment etc libraries for that particular store, deal with refunds and disputes and have to figure out where the payment was made in the first place, etc,etc.
...and as a user I don't want to wander round the virtual app stores of my phone like it was a shopping maul.
I waste enough time on my phone as it is without having to search multiple app stores for an app for a particular need.
 
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Maclver said:
But I don't understand how this is ok.... Is it an appropriate comparison to say this is like a judge ordering Walmart to carry and sell Target branded items in their store?
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It’s more like if Walmart and Target are the only two stores in existence, and your car is either a Walmart car or a Target car and won’t drive to the other one, and anyone who wants to sell a product has to go through either Target or Walmart, or else has to start manufacturing cars and build stores, and hope that enough people will buy their new car instead of a Target or Walmart car.
 
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How about a radical idea? Make app stores competitive marketplaces. Apple doesn't have to let a foreign Epic "kiosk" into iOS, but it also should lose a little control over pricing, and platforms should start competing more and stop effectively colluding.

App developers can charge whatever "wholesale" price they want to Apple, and Apple can control the retail price and its profit. If Google seeks a lower margin and undercuts Apple, or if Epic does develop its own platform and store, Apple will feel competitive pressure to reduce its retail app prices.
 
Fan boy here, ready to answer this one.

1) If this was limited to devices not made by Google "AKA the Pixel". I would be OK with it. As different manufacturers should (as they already do and or can) offer alternative stores.
2) If this means that it would include the Pixel, I would be against it. As that is a Google made device. And as a consumer, you don't have to purchase a Pixel.
3) As for Apple, no. I still don't think it would be right to force Apple to open up. They built a closed system, and it got popular on its own merits. They are not a monopoly in the trustiest of definitions. They built their device, you don't have to buy it, and you have options. Due to the existence of Google Android AND multiple different vendors selling Android phones. Everyone has a choice to either be in or out of the Apple, Google, or Android 3rd Party handset ecosystem.

If anyone doesn't like the rules Apple has put in place. You're free to purchase one of many other Android devices. And if you don't trust any of those other manufactures for some reason or another. You can pick up a Pixel and have Android and "safety" too. If you like Apple, you can purchase any of the models they offer and have a seamless experience across Apple's ecosystem. So on and so forth.

And it is still possible for Microsoft or "other" company to create a mobile device and OS to compete with them too.
It's not anyones fault but their own why they couldn't and or sucked at it.
 
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ForkHandles said:
Is this why Americans are so willing to defend the greed of corporations then against their own interests? There are confusing them with their Aunt Mildred’s legally protected rights.
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No, it's why it's nearly pointless for Americans to fight over it until our lawmakers do something about it. The person that said this to you was basically just being snarky.
 
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iAppleOrchard said:
As a developer, I honestly hope one of these happens:
- 30% cut is removed
- Alternative payment methods everywhere

I believe letting the user use their card linked to their Apple Account is an ease of use thing, and having alternative payment methods might start complicating things.
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30% ? Really? You are doing really well earning more the $1million a year in app revenue on each platform to be in the 30% category. I wish I was doing that well.

Here's poor old me only paying 15% to Google and Apple for my app purchases because I'm too small to qualify for the 30% take from giants like yourself.

A 15% that I'm more than happy to let them have and have them deal with sales tax in >150 countries, credit cards, paypal, refunds, disputes, charge backs etc etc. 15% is a bargain.
 
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blazerunner said:
Apple fans are gonna have a meltdown when they realize they're defending Google and Android. 👍
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No they are not. This is not and Android/iOS or Apple/Google issue, but an affront to the free market capitalism. Both companies created and maintained App Stores for their phones (includes Samsung and other brands too) and now the government is forcing them to open the door and let others go around them. The courts do not seem to understand that there are significant costs and needed profits to run the App stores in addition to the cost of maintaining, improving and creating new versions of the respective OS's. All these developers happily signed up to pay to play and now are complete losers.

My equivalent examples to the App Store costs are the they are the same as any other business expense (rent/mortgage, taxes (income, property, real estate), memberships, utilities, equipment, travel, people, benefits, etc). Some of these are controllable, but others are not. In the real world you cannot go into business knowing the tax rates is X% and then once successful trying to get the rate lowered. I am certain anyone with their own business would like to tell the taxing authorities they do not like the rates and except action to be taken to accommodate them.
 
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klasma said:
It’s more like if Walmart and Target are the only two stores in existence, and your car is either a Walmart car or a Target car and won’t drive to the other one, and anyone who wants to sell a product has to go through either Target or Walmart, or else has to start manufacturing cars and build stores, and hope that enough people will buy their new car instead of a Target or Walmart car.
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Thank you!!! That scenario actually makes sense!
 
Interesting the court has basically green lighted Apple’s approach of still charging a fee. A few more years ahead of delay whilst they squabble over what’s “reasonable”
 
ForkHandles said:
It’s not a great analogy really.

Google’s monopoly on Android is giving them a monopoly on software distribution.
That right there is the issue.

If a government does nothing to stop the rich from getting richer, the poor will only get poorer. A country isn’t a collection of companies it’s a collection of people. Their needs trump those of corporations every single time.
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And sports stadiums are monopolies because I can’t buy a hot dog for $2 from a competitor
 
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blazerunner said:
Apple fans are gonna have a meltdown when they realize they're defending Google and Android. 👍
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It’s not about defending Google. If it makes sense, then it makes sense for everyone. I don’t think the government should force companies to allow competition in their products. How about Microsoft Xbox? Are we going to force them to have alternate App Store for games?

Also I like Apple products but have zero likes for the corporation 🤮
 
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SanderEvers said:
"-30% cut is removed" So a developer of a platform is not allowed to profit off of that platform? Why?

"- Alternative payment methods everywhere" Which means it would be extremely easy to get your credit card / bank account stolen by a bad actor with their own "payment method". You see already thousands of those on the internet. Do you want people to get scammed more easily? Because that is what you'll get.

I want a device with one way of installing apps. So I can be certain those apps are safe. I want also ONE way to pay on that device for those apps. So I know who has access to my data if something bad happens. (legally)
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I’m raging that my Nationwide account doesn’t work with my Halifax bank card.
 
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MilaM said:
Somewhat puzzling, why Epic won the case against Google, but mostly lost it against Apple. Anyone have a good explanation for this?
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The iOS was never open. Apple was essentially selling an integrated product where the iPhone ships with the iOS App Store and buying an iPhone meant accepting that you could only buy apps through the App Store (kinda like game consoles). You don't buy a PS5 and then complain that you can't download the epic games store or steam on it. It's all part of the deal, it's assumed consumers knew what they were getting into, and not once has Apple ever gone back on this.

You can't accuse Apple of breaking a rule if said rule was never allowed in the first place. Or to use another analogy, you can't accuse Apple of rigging the elections if it never allowed elections to begin with.

Meanwhile, the problem with Android was that Google was entering into a contractual relationship with phone manufacturers. It promised users one thing (an open marketplace), while actively working behind the scenes to limit precisely that (eg: paying OEMs to not ship with third party app stores).

Google wanted to have their cake and eat it too. That's the problem. It's like Google promising free and fair elections, then working behind the scenes to gerrymander and rig out the outcome. It's not what was promised, and that's what Google was ultimately found guilty of. They broke the deal. Whether the deal itself was reasonable or otherwise, is besides the point.
 
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Maybe I'm old but I remember a time when developers had to sell their programs on their websites and pay a payment processor to accept credit cards and manage customer service, and before then when they had to go door to door to computer stores selling boxed copies of their software.
Developers were stereotypically poor, they joked that they survived on a diet of Mac & Cheese in their barely furnished apartments. The App Store made thousands of them multi-millionaires. The ease of installing an app and the safety it brings to both the customer and the developer, connecting billions of customers to developers, made this possible.
 
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