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Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

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Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#321

Post by TheForumTroll »

yayr wrote: post #129
avip wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So says you. This is what the ToS say: Google may terminate this Agreement with You for any reason with thirty (30) days' prior written notice. In addition, Google may, at any time, immediately suspend or terminate this Agreement with You if: (a) You have breached any provision of this Agreement, any non-disclosure agreement or other agreement relating to Google Play or the Android platform; (b) Google is required to…

There are varios ways a ToS may be not applicable depending on the jurisdiction. In this case considering the monopoly position of Google here I doubt they can terminate an account that is equivalent to market access for any reason in the EU

>monopoly

Apple has a bigger market share

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#322

Post by braco_alva »

tedivm wrote: post #302
bdibs wrote: post #50

I actually just got my Google Ads account suspended because I forgot to update my billing address before adding a new card. The suspension was for "suspicious billing activity", tried appealing twice with the correct billing address, and was told the suspension is final (some automated email) both times. They won't take my calls because the account is suspended, which leaves me not being able to advertise on the #1 s…

When I was in college I ran a forum that got some decent traffic. I put Google Ads on my site and after a few months had enough money to pay for school books. I went to cash out and they suspended my account claiming click fraud and stole the money. This is how google has always operated, and it's one of the reasons why their near monopoly on advertising is horrible for everyone.

This exact thing happened to me too. They claimed click fraud and terminated my account.

It was 10 years ago, and I have tried to make an appeal about it but always with the same response.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#324

Post by auslander »

pizza wrote: post #34
matthewaveryusa wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone with more knowledge explain why this wouldn't be the easy solution?

Reprisals would be severe

You will lose your job, citizenship, banks will freeze your money and you'll be added to blacklists of many 3 letter agencies. And NoFlightDB.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#325

Post by manigandham »

topspin wrote: post #305
manigandham wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How exactly are you supposed to distribute your app then? All the app stores are monopolized.

I use a PC. Amazingly it can host software from many sources. Some of those sources include boxed software I ordered from various retailers, software aggregation and distribution services like Steam, the operating system vendors own proprietary software distribution system and a large number of unaffiliated software vendors that operate their own web sites. It seems that we had long since solved the 'problem' of soft…

Yes, this is HN, we all get it. But theory isn't reality. What's the solution today other than going back in time and blocking appstore monopolies?

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#326

Post by aembleton »

ohiovr wrote: post #104

I would be interested in knowing what app you made. Completely agree that Google is heavy handed and they treat developers (and really anyone that depends on them) as bugs they don’t care about squashing. Only if your story goes viral will the beast wake up and put out the fire in the kitchen. Don’t forget that there are other markets for apks such as it is. Play revenue is dismal compared to Apple App Store anyway.

Loyalty app for small retailers https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/hoopapployalty/id1287914039?...

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#327

Post by tomjohnneill »

calabin wrote: post #279
sbov wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Something I learned the hard way when I first started out in business is to never make your business dependent on a single entity. Seems impossible. Assuming you're an internet business, how did you make your business not dependent upon your domain registrar?

I can't remember the exact details of the story I read here on HN, but there was a case of some SaaS company that had this exact issue. Fortunately they were able to spread the word to temporarily use a backup domain on a different registrar via social media until the issue was resolved. If anyone reading this remembers that story, I would very much appreciate a link.

I don't have a link, but pretty sure it was Zoho

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#328

Post by pas »

sverhagen wrote: post #266
m-p-3 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have a strategy that totally relies on a party out of your control If it's possible to implement the app as a PWA sure, but then discoverability becomes an issue. Sadly, App Stores are a natural monopoly and everyone expect them to be fair but they clearly can't.

Are they a natural monopoly by choice or by necessity? Not sure what "natural" means, here. I could imagine some sort of federation that would make them less of a monopoly, understandably not Google's choice, though.

Natural probably means that for a given mobile platform it's natural - due to network effects and other market forces (e.g. the platform owner heavily subsidizing/supporting their choice of store) - for one store to emerge as a monopoly.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#329

Post by benologist »

catach wrote: post #188
fareesh wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The part I don't get is... where in Google leadership does this issue get lost on the company's priorities? Of all of the rational explanations I can come up with, it feels like someone looks at the data and either says "nah we don't lose much money from this" or "nah it's not a real problem". Is that actually true? Could it be something to do with company culture? Something like "if we solve a hard problem by assi…

Human-based support at Google-scale is also insanely expensive.

Do you think it would cost them more than it costs AT&T or Comcast, who don't have $100 billion in savings between them but do offer phone support to about 200 million people?

What happens if Google provides support is their average revenue per employee drops from $1.3m to an even million per year or whatever and their profit margins remain immense and that $100b+ in the bank keeps on growing. But it is certainly more expensive than an auto-emailer faking support.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#330

Post by Zenst »

This does add more fuel to the fire about app store monopolies upon platforms.

I forsee the EU eventually fining Google (nice revenue stream with fines recently) and they have to do what Microsoft had to do with the IE Browser and offer the users a choice which lists the alternatives and allow the user to chose and change as they wish.

Which would be nice, and will eventually happen. Though these things will take...time. Though I wonder if Microsoft will have an android app store by then, the poetic irony of history will sing come the possibility of Google having to offer users of Android an option to select which store they wish to use instead of the Google default, with Microsoft as an option. Browser selection parallels are abound here.

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