Google has quietly expanded its “User Choice Billing” pilot to allow more developers of non-gaming Android apps to offer third-party payment options as an alternative to Google Play’s. Developers will see a 4 percent reduction in their service costs from 15 to 30 percent when users select a new third-party billing option, which the developer – not Google – must support in case of customer problems. The news was: first reported by 9to5Google.
Beginning September 1, registered developers from the European Economic Area (EEA), India, Japan, Indonesia, and Australia will be able to participate in User Choice Billing. registration page. Google states that 99 percent of developers who use the company’s own Play Store billing qualify for the 15 percent service fee, but it’s the world’s revenue-generating Spotifys that pay Google the disputed 30 percent on every entry. app purchase.
The User Choice Billing pilot was originally launched in March with Spotify as its first partner, after Google was forced to offer alternative in-app payments in South Korea. The moves are a direct response to the fierce criticism that Google and Apple have received worldwide over the fees they take for purchases in their digital stores that exclude developers from third-party in-app payment systems.
There is no word on when the program will expand to game developers or to developers in the US. Google just says that “we expect the details of the pilot to continue to evolve as we learn more and receive additional feedback.”
