Google has recently pledged that it will be reducing app store fees for developers down to 15% of the first year profits, as opposed to the initial 30%.
This decision comes in the face of a rather public lawsuit, which has led to an even more pressing public reaction regarding large corporations and establishing monopolies. Google and Apple have invariably remained a part of this conversation, and will naturally continue to do so. The Google OS and Apple OS account for approximately 99% of the entire world's smartphones. Accordingly, the Google Play store and App Store account for a similar number of all application downloads. It's very easy to establish a monopoly when you're one of the two major players in the marketplace. It's also very easy to charge whatever you wish to in such cases.
Google Play's policy for developers on the platform used to be such that 30% of all earned profits within an app's first year on the platform would go to Google. While this seems very reasonable at first glance, what with Google providing a lucrative platform in exchange, a 30% cut goes a long way. Developers more often than not don't have any solid financial backing. These are individuals who are short on money, often don't get many downloads since success right out of the gate is a rare phenomenon, and of the minor income they receive, 30% has to be handed over to a corporation that's earning in the billions. Suffice it to say that not everyone across the board is happy.
Monopolies mean that the higher ups can charge whatever they want, and everyone else is forced to comply since there is nowhere else to go. It's the death of the free market system, which capitalism would have you believe is its primary goal (hint: that's a bare faced lie). At any rate, things took a rapid turn when Epic Games, notable for being the creators of Fortnite, sued Apple over it's similar app store policies. The company was even forced to reduce its cut down to 15% for companies earning less than USD $1 million per year. A US judge mandated that Apple loosen its control over their cut of the profits.
Maybe Google was just looking to get ahead of the game, before any major legal bearing came crashing down. Apple's already got its hands full with the lawsuit from Epic Games. Tempting fate would be a bad idea, to say the least.
Read next: Google Is Helping Users To Learn A New Word Per Day With Its New Search Engine Vocabulary Feature
This decision comes in the face of a rather public lawsuit, which has led to an even more pressing public reaction regarding large corporations and establishing monopolies. Google and Apple have invariably remained a part of this conversation, and will naturally continue to do so. The Google OS and Apple OS account for approximately 99% of the entire world's smartphones. Accordingly, the Google Play store and App Store account for a similar number of all application downloads. It's very easy to establish a monopoly when you're one of the two major players in the marketplace. It's also very easy to charge whatever you wish to in such cases.
Google Play's policy for developers on the platform used to be such that 30% of all earned profits within an app's first year on the platform would go to Google. While this seems very reasonable at first glance, what with Google providing a lucrative platform in exchange, a 30% cut goes a long way. Developers more often than not don't have any solid financial backing. These are individuals who are short on money, often don't get many downloads since success right out of the gate is a rare phenomenon, and of the minor income they receive, 30% has to be handed over to a corporation that's earning in the billions. Suffice it to say that not everyone across the board is happy.
Monopolies mean that the higher ups can charge whatever they want, and everyone else is forced to comply since there is nowhere else to go. It's the death of the free market system, which capitalism would have you believe is its primary goal (hint: that's a bare faced lie). At any rate, things took a rapid turn when Epic Games, notable for being the creators of Fortnite, sued Apple over it's similar app store policies. The company was even forced to reduce its cut down to 15% for companies earning less than USD $1 million per year. A US judge mandated that Apple loosen its control over their cut of the profits.
Maybe Google was just looking to get ahead of the game, before any major legal bearing came crashing down. Apple's already got its hands full with the lawsuit from Epic Games. Tempting fate would be a bad idea, to say the least.
Read next: Google Is Helping Users To Learn A New Word Per Day With Its New Search Engine Vocabulary Feature
