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Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

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Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#21
post #4

TLDR: Application banned for not using a Google-blessed payment option which Google has not enabled for the country in which the developer actually lives. In that case I guess the only other option is going completely free? How many developers will be willing to accept that position? Do Google really think they can create a thriving ecosystem and market if they start throwing around inconsistent and conflicting rules…

The main problem with Google is their lack of customer care. I had my Adsense account rejected a few years back for no reason (there was no bad activity) and when I appealed, their response was the same "We have reviewed your appeal and can't do anything about it."

Lol.. Adsense. Don't get started. You probably never had an actually living human being reviewing your appeal. They love programming at Google.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#22
post #4

TLDR: Application banned for not using a Google-blessed payment option which Google has not enabled for the country in which the developer actually lives. In that case I guess the only other option is going completely free? How many developers will be willing to accept that position? Do Google really think they can create a thriving ecosystem and market if they start throwing around inconsistent and conflicting rules…

The app in question was using Paypal.

Right or wrong, there is no way Google is going to let developers use Paypal instead of their own Google billing, for which they keep 30%.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#23

I know Google's policy on this, but I completely understand where the developer is coming from. Google has been taking a collective shit on every developer out of its list of seller countries[0], which is ridiculously short and hasn't been expanded in god knows how long, and even then, there were only a handful of countries added. On Google's page about seller countries they say: "We're working hard to add more count…

Well I can tell you there's at least one country that has paid apps and isn't in that list, so maybe that list isn't updated either. I think you're right about them not moving fast enough with this, though. They've been historically slow with this since the Android Market days.

It also hurt them big time that their own payment option in the early days wasn't popular. Things could've been very different for Android revenue, if they wouldn't have forgotten about Google Checkout for virtually its entire life since they started it. They had to invent a whole new payment system (Wallet) to deal with Android payments, after they almost let Paypal be their default payment solution for the store, because their payment system situation was so incredibly pathetic at the time.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-13/paypal-said-to-be-i...

http://www.androidguys.com/2011/11/02/signs-of-paypal-found-...

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#24

While Apple wouldn't even accept it in the first place if they used Paypal instead of their IAP.

He would then update the app and resubmit. It is way better then what google did in this case. Especially considering that google does not support his country at all.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#25

I feel it's an obvious problem that apps that allow IAP are listed as free. Has google or apple fixed this yet? When browsing for apps there you may see a top app being free and another costing $1. You pick the "free" one and it turns out it is useless without an IAP whereas the $1 app perhaps would not. It turns out the free app costs $2 in order to function as well as the $1 app. The consumer friendly thing to do w…

Apple has a small note saying "Offer In App Purchases" below "Free" button. Though you have to view the app page for that.

In iTunes & Web, there's a section for popular IAP under the app icon.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#27
post #10

While Apple wouldn't even accept it in the first place if they used Paypal instead of their IAP.

But Google usually uses "Android is more open then Apple" as a slogan to attract people, while Apple doesn't says they are open.

It used to be true but the situation is degrading rapidly.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#29

The relevant part of the Developer Distribution Agreement appears to be 3.3: "Such free trials for Products are encouraged. However, if you want to collect fees after the free trial expires, you must collect all fees for the full version of the Product through the Payment Processor on the Market." http://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreemen...

The point is, that the developer can't use the Payment Processor on the Market, because Google will not allow him to use it (he is from the "wrong country").

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#30
Official app stores are quasi-monopolies and need government control. Think about all the time and work the developer has invested. And can't be possible for google to effectively keep him from selling the app just because they feel like it. If they have an app distribution monopoly, developers have a right to publish their app there. It is not a favor google grants. This is something laws have to enforce as companies like google demonstrably harm this right on their own. It's either this or opening up the app store concept.
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