According to recent reports, countries such as South Korea are considering altering their laws to force tech giants Apple and Google to allow third-party payment systems in their app stores. The change would give app developers the freedom to offer payment options outside of Google and Apple’s app stores, bypassing the company’s massive 30 percent cut of revenues.
Breitbart News has previously reported that Apple and Google have been facing pressure from developers in the United States to allow alternative payment methods in their app stores, preventing the companies from taking a 30 percent cut of in-app purchases. Now, it appears that other countries are considering altering their laws to force the tech giants to allow third-party payment services.
Google’s Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai gives a keynote address during the opening day of the 2015 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on March 2, 2015. Phone makers will seek to seduce new buyers with even smarter Internet-connected watches and other wireless gadgets as they wrestle for dominance at the world’s biggest mobile fair starting today. AFP PHOTO / LLUIS LLENE (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP) (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
The Register reports that South Korea is considering tweaking its Telecommunications Business Act to prevent Apple and Google from taking a percentage of in-app purchases. The move comes shortly after a bill was approved by a committee of its national assembly; the bill was put to a vote on Wednesday by South Korea’s legislation and judiciary committee but still has to receive a final vote in parliament which is set to take place this week.
The move comes following Google’s clarification to Korean developers last year that they would be forced to “use the Google Play payment system when offering in-app purchases of digital goods and pay a certain percentage of the purchase amount as a fee.” Google did add at the time that the policy was “only relevant for less than 3 percent of Google Play app developers who… charge users for paid downloads or sell digital goods within the app. Google Play believes that this policy is fair.”
The register spoke to Professor Bronwen Dalton of Sydney’s University of Technology’s business school in Australia who commented: “South Korea Korea’s app developer community have long complained about the 30 percent tariff they have to pay Apple and Google… Another issue is that Korean companies are seeking to adopt the same strategy. Like Apple and Google, they also want to build insular ecosystems where their company plays the … guiding role in hardware, operating systems, payment systems and services.”
Dalton added: “If approved, the [amendments to the] Telecommunications Business Act would mean that Korea would be the first such curb [to] these two US players by a major economy and market. Of course Apple and Google are worried that this could pave the way for other countries to do the same. Even losing Korea would mean the loss of a major revenue stream.”
Read more at the Register here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com