41–50 of 53 posts
> This is insane (because there are no alternatives to Play Market). This is not true? Huawei uses android but is banned from the US so Google can't take their money. Guess what... you don't need Google Play to distribute apps.
Their issue doesn't seem to be with Google Play but being forced to use Google Billing?
> This is insane (because there are no alternatives to Play Market). This is not true? Huawei uses android but is banned from the US so Google can't take their money. Guess what... you don't need Google Play to distribute apps.
Name a popular Android app that's not distributed through Google Play outside of China. Of course that could also just mean that the market agrees that Google's store is just the absolute best, and paying Google 30% (or 0% if you're really cool) is a steal – we just don't know since we haven't ran that particular experiment anywhere in the world. We are probably about to, in the EU, though.
I wish folks would realize this has knock on effects for them--you're paying 30% more for things (or 15%, if it's a small developer). Is the "safety and curation" of the Play Store (or Apple App Store) worth 30% more to you? (Full disclosure: I moved my apps off the Apple App Store/Google Play Store earlier this year. I wasn't seeing any value with distributing on them. After leaving, I've had better interactions wit…
Yes, because as you said, there are knock-on effects.
With a first-party app store, I know I can easily cancel subscriptions, and from a single place; that the payment option isn’t going to be some no-name payment processor or that I’m not going to told it was one price on the screen and then charged another price in the backend; that at least one third party has done at least some minimum level of verification that it’s not malicious; that it isn’t circumventing privacy controls; that app updates occur in one place instead of having to individually launch and update each app (e.g., Sparkle); that, while app review has non-trivial flaws, it does catch certain kinds and amounts of crapplications, and tends to have a second-order consequence of improving platform consistency.
So while I may pay more and/or the developer might earn less, installing apps the old-fashioned way carries way more risk. The days of implicit trust that someone random Joe’s apps will behave themselves and act like good platform citizens are over.
> How is this legal that if I want to publish an Android app on Play Market and charge for subscriptions, I must use Google Play Billing and pay 30% to Google? This is insane It's bad for the developer, sure, but what exactly is "insane" or "illegal" about it? They have created a product marketplace, and they let you sell there, and you must abide by their rules. If you want to sell on Gumroad or similar services you…
> It's bad for the developer, sure, but what exactly is "insane" or "illegal" about it? Anti-trust made it pretty clear you can't be the railroad company and the oil company that uses the railroad to harm competition. Play store is the rail road, apps are the oil. > The thing is, you don't "have" to sell in Play Market - even if it was the only marketplace for Android, it would still not be some basic necessity of li…
Your analogy is flawed.
This is a private railroad company, who built their own private national railroad system, saying that if you want to use their railroads, you have to use their infrastruture (signals, switching, yards, etc.) and to do that, you have to pay a per-trip fee.
Your argument really is, “How is it legal that I am not allowed to use their private railroad track system unless I also use their switches/signals/yards/etc. that carry fees?”
You might be interested in the upcoming Digital Markets Act by the EU that is built to address this among other things. https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en Notably you can check out their list of gatekeeper services https://digital-markets-act-cases.ec.europa.eu/gatekeepers
How is Android any different?
You might be interested in the upcoming Digital Markets Act by the EU that is built to address this among other things. https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en Notably you can check out their list of gatekeeper services https://digital-markets-act-cases.ec.europa.eu/gatekeepers
When I sell products or services on a marketplace like eBay, Etsy, Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Steam, Shopify, Apple Store, Amazon, etc., the marketplace handles the payment and the marketplace takes a cut for themselves. How is Android any different?
https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/gatekeepers_en
In there you will find pdfs for each entity with not only the qualifiers/assessments, but also the counter arguments they presented.
For example, here is one from Alphabet that also brings up your point in the counter argument
https://ec.europa.eu/competition/digital_markets_act/cases/2...
There are plenty of alternatives to the play store. They just don’t get the same amount of eyeballs or require slightly more technical users.
> How is this legal that if I want to publish an Android app on Play Market and charge for subscriptions, I must use Google Play Billing and pay 30% to Google? This is insane It's bad for the developer, sure, but what exactly is "insane" or "illegal" about it? They have created a product marketplace, and they let you sell there, and you must abide by their rules. If you want to sell on Gumroad or similar services you…
> It's bad for the developer, sure, but what exactly is "insane" or "illegal" about it? Anti-trust made it pretty clear you can't be the railroad company and the oil company that uses the railroad to harm competition. Play store is the rail road, apps are the oil. > The thing is, you don't "have" to sell in Play Market - even if it was the only marketplace for Android, it would still not be some basic necessity of li…
No, but you can own the railroad and dictate that anybody putting their trains there and selling tickets have to do it by your rules and pay you a cut.