Following Google’s loss to Epic Games in an antitrust case earlier this month, the settlement of another Google antitrust case is now publicly available.
Google settled a case with all 50 U.S. state attorneys general in September, but we’ve only now learned the details. First, the company will pay out $700 million USD (about $933.8 million CAD) and it agreed to several concessions regarding the Play Store and billing practices.
However, as The Verge points out, none of these are particularly major issues for Google. The $700 million settlement equates to about 21 days of the company’s operating profits from just the Play Store. Meanwhile, the Play Store concessions are all relatively minor, or things Google was already doing, and Google only needs to do these things for four to seven years, depending on the concession.
The Verge has a huge breakdown of each concession, but here are some of the highlights:
- For seven years, Google must continue allowing the installation of third-party apps through means other than the Play Store.
- For five years, Google must let developers offer an alternative in-app billing system (in other words, User Choice Billing).
- For five years, Google can’t make companies exclusively put Google Play on phones or home screens.
Several concessions will prevent Google from stopping developers from telling users about better deals elsewhere, such as directing people to sign up on their website instead of in-app for a discounted rate.
While the cash will be split between U.S. consumers who use the Play Store and states, MobileSyrup has reached out to Google to see if any of the changes to the Play Store that Google makes will impact Canadians.
But the thing is, few of the changes represent significant changes to how Android or Play works. Several concessions are tied to Google’s User Choice Billing program, which The Verge reports was shown to be a fake choice in the Epic v. Google trial. Developers that use User Choice billing get a discount of four percent off Google’s typical fee (unless they have a special deal, like Spotify). Plus, Google found internally that developers would lose money with User Choice Billing.
The agreement also doesn’t require Google to allow apps to link to their own websites to give users discounted rates.
A court filing indicates that the states will have Judge James Donato, who oversaw the Epic v. Google lawsuit, to approve the settlement on February 8th.
Source: The Verge
