Google To Allow Third Party App Payments for First Time in South Korea

Alphabet's Google said on Thursday it plans to allow third-party payment systems in South Korea to comply with a new law, marking the first time the U.S. tech giant has amended its payment policy for a specific country. From a report: Google's announcement comes after a Korea Communications Commission's (KCC) request for Google and Apple to come up with compliance plans for the new law, which bans major app store operators from forcing software developers to use their payments systems. Most of the new law went into effect in mid-September. The curb is the first such move by a major economy on the likes of Apple and Google, which face global criticism for requiring the use of proprietary payment systems that charge commissions of up to 30%.

In late August, parliament passed an amendment to South Korea's Telecommunications Business Act - dubbed the "anti-Google law" - banning big app store operators, such as Google and Apple from forcing developers to use their payment systems, effectively stopping them from charging commission on in-app purchases. "We respect the decision of the National Assembly, and we are sharing some changes to respond to this new law, including giving developers that sell in-app digital goods and services the option to add an alternative in-app billing system alongside Google Play's billing system for their users in South Korea," Google said in a statement.

The journalist didn't dig deep enough.

[stephanruby]

The commission is 30%, but only 2 to 3% of that counts as the credit card transaction fee.

So will this move eliminate the 30% commission on in-app purchasing? Or will it just eliminate the credit card transaction fee for in-app purchasing?

The question I have is this:

[mark-t]

Why does Google allow such apps on their Play store in the first place?

You can sideload Android apps anyways, and if someone wants to use a payment mechanism that competes with Google's own, why should Google have any obligation to provide any additional exposure for it that their store might provide?

Re:

[mark-t]

No, ones that allow third party payment mechanisms.

Re:

[xgerrit]

You can sideload Android apps anyways, and if someone wants to use a payment mechanism that competes with Google's own, why should Google have any obligation to provide any additional exposure for it that their store might provide?

There have always been practical limits on how a business can denigrate the competition. If a reputable company builds an app that uses an alternate payment system, what gives Google the right to tell a potential customer that the competitor's app "could harm their device", "dama

Re:

[mark-t]

Nothing gives Google the right to do so, but I don't think Google should be obligated to allow apps that have third party payment mechanisms in them on its own store. Why should a company be obligated to assist the competition?

Samsung

[presearch]

Samsung has nothing to do with this, right?
It might weaken its primary competitors from the US,
but this is only about protecting the rights of the consumer!

They misspelled

[Ol Olsoc]

Apple. Apple is the only company that disallows third party. Google is wide open - as God wants. Correct that misspelling pronto!