Google Is Lowering Service Fees in Its App Store

The search giant Google announced that it’s lowering service fees in its app store after a similar move by Apple. As we know, both firms face pressure from lawmakers and regulators to make their mobile stores more accessible to developers.

According to Google, the service fee for subscriptions in the Google Play store will decrease from 30% to 15% from day one. Under the current model, developers must pay a 30% cut on subscriptions to Google for the first 12 months before the commission decreases to 15%.

The search giant announced 99% of developers would qualify for the lower service fee.

On Thursday, the firm also reported that it’s launching a program to allow e-books, music streaming services, and other apps that pay for content to access fees as low as 10%. As far as we know, Apple doesn’t make exceptions for those kinds of apps and doesn’t offer a 10% fee to developers in App Store.

Remarkably, Apple Has Received More Regulator Attention Over Its App Store than Google

Over the past two years, the firm lowered its take from 30% to 15% in many cases, including for apps making less than $1 million per year, news apps, and certain premium video streamers. However, Apple still charges 30% for the first year of a subscription, suggesting that Google’s app store may be more competitive for subscription-based apps.

Lawmakers require Apple and Google to make more changes to their app store policies.

Apple and Google have both faced legal action over their app store practices. In July, state attorneys general reported an antitrust lawsuit against Google, claiming the firm abused its power over app developers through its Play Store on Android. Fortnite maker Epic Games brought a major lawsuit against the giant companies centred around their app store fees and other practices.

Lawmakers have announced a series of bills that could require Apple and Google to make more changes to their app store policies. Notably, the Open App Markets Act is a bipartisan bill that would force the companies’ app stores to allow developers to use other payment systems. This helps them opt out of default service fees.