While Apple has a set policy when it comes to App Store commission fees, Google is having a hard time getting to something concrete. The company announced a few days back that it will start extracting commission fee from apps in 2021, but an uproar from its Indian clientele has forced the company to delay this mandate to 2022.
Google already had a set policy when it came to in app purchases facilitated through the Play Store, but wasn’t too strict about it. However, a few days back, it said that it is going to extract a percentage of any in app purchases made through the Play Store, giving developers an year to adjust with the change.
While all of this was happening, things were taking a turn for the worse in one of the company’s biggest markets-India. The tech giant had run into some peccadilloes with startups throughout the country, including Paytm, India’s most successful startup, which was taken down from the Play Store for ‘violating Play Store’s gambling policy.’ Moreover, earlier this month, Google also sent out notices to Zomato and Swiggy, two of the country’s biggest food delivery startups, to take down features from their apps that allowed people to gain cashbacks by correctly predicting parts of an IPL match.
All of this infuriated startup founders throughout the country, who decided to form an informal coalition to fight off Google’s monopoly. They even floated the idea of an indigenous app store, so that Indian startups don’t have to rely on outside players.
On top of all this, Google’s announcement about its commission fees did not go down well with the startup community, leading to the birth of Paytm’s own “mini app store,” which will allows app developers and brands to build apps that can be opened without installation, running over Paytm’s own technology back-end. Moreover, the company said that it will not extract any commission fee from apps, excluding transactions made through credit cards.
All of this has forced Google’s hand, which will not delay the mandatement of the Play Store cut to April 2022 in India. It must be noted that India, and India alone has been given this opportunity, and the rest of the world will still have to get its apps in accordance by September 2021.
