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Google to ‘compensate’ every Android app developer after a year of litigation

August 2020. Android app developers told Google “this far”. They had been claiming better earnings for years than they were receiving for creating applications that, every day, are used by millions and millions of people around the world. And that, in large part, are key to the success of your Play Store.

Almost a year later there is already an agreement between both parties. The tech giant has decided to resolve the conspiracy with developers -who had joined in filing a historic class action lawsuit against Google- and will establish a fund of 90 million dollars to pay a fairer price to these professionals. They had only earned at most $2 million per year from 2016 to 2021.

But who will receive their share of compensation? In principle, the vast majority of US app developers who earned revenue through Google Play. However, they will have to wait to be officially notified. According to the law firm that represents them, Hagens Berman, they will be at least 48,000 developers who will individually receive an average of $200,000.

Although the agreement must still be approved by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, where the case was filed, Google has published in a statement that said agreement “avoids years of uncertain litigation”, sealing peace between the company and application developers.

Google to 'compensate' every Android app developer after a year of litigation

Android developers filed this lawsuit against Google claiming that the technology company forced them to use the Google Play Store to distribute their applications, to later force them to pay “very high” rates. But beware, this problem is not just a Google thing. And it is that in recent years Apple has also been singled out by professionals and regulators for an alleged abuse of power in the mobile application market.

To understand this conflict we also have to go back to 2020 when Google gave administrators a one-year ultimatum for them to adopt its billing system in-app for apps distributed on the Google Play Store to sell digital products. And thus prevent some applications such as Netflix, Spotify and Epic Games from ignoring said system. This caused Epic to sue both Google and Apple over their respective policies on app stores.

Other commitments that Google acquires

Google has taken the opportunity to announce more news, such as that it will maintain the 15% commission rate imposed by developers for the first million euros entered and obtained by the Play Store. Also will review the distribution agreement for developers, where it is clarified that developers can use the contact information obtained in the application to communicate with users outside of the app, including subscription offers or lower cost offers on a competitor’s app store or the developer’s website. It will keep certain changes implemented in Android 12 that make it easier for people to use other app stores on their devices. And it will publish annual transparency reports on how Google Play works.

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