Google paying USD 90 million to solve conflict with developers
Google is paying USD 90 million to a fund supporting developers in the US. The background is a legal conflict with app developers over money they earned creating apps for Android smartphones and for making users to choose in-app purchases. Close to 50 000 developers could be entitled to applying for money from the fund, according to unconfirmed estimations.
“Google and a group of U.S. developers have reached a proposed settlement that allows both parties to move forward and avoids years of uncertain and distracting litigation”, vice president, Wilson White, wrote in a blog post. The proposed deal includes Google commitments concerning the company’s controversial commission rate for apps sold via Google Play Store.
“As part of the settlement, we’re establishing a USD 90 million fund to support U.S. developers who earned two million dollars or less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021. A vast majority of U.S. developers who earned revenue through Google Play will be eligible to receive money from this fund, if they choose.”
The dispute will not be finally solved until a court has approved the settlement as developers had taken Google to court.
“In addition to the fund, we’re committing to maintain a number of existing practices and implement new benefits that help developers innovate and communicate with their users”, Write says:
- To continue to provide developers with a tiered pricing model, we’ll maintain Google’s 15% commission rate for the first $1 million in annual revenue earned from the Google Play Store for U.S. developers, which we implemented in 2021.
- We’re revising our Developer Distribution Agreement to make it clear that developers can continue to use contact information obtained in-app to communicate with users out-of-app, including about subscription offers or lower-cost offerings on a rival app store or the developer’s website.
- In new versions of Android, Google will maintain certain changes implemented in Android 12 that make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices, while being careful not to compromise the safety measures Android has in place.
- To showcase independent and small startup developers building unique high-quality apps, we’re creating an “Indie Apps Corner” that will appear on the apps tab on the U.S. Google Play homepage and shine a spotlight on these developers.
“Finally, we’ve heard developers want to understand more about how Google Play operates, which is why we’ve agreed to publish annual transparency reports. The reports will share information about the Google Play Store, including statistics such as apps removed from Google Play, account terminations, and other data regarding how users interact with Google Play”, White writes.
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