(San Francisco) Google on Thursday announced a drop in its commissions imposed on application publishers, as the Californian group, which dominates the mobile internet with its neighbor Apple, faces increasing pressure from regulators competition.
The developers of subscription apps (meditation, meetings, physical training…) will only pay 15% of their revenues to Google. Previously, they had to wait until the second year to drop to 15%, instead of the industry standard 30%.
“Year-over-year non-renewals make it difficult for subscription apps to take advantage of this reduced rate,” said Sameer Samat, a vice president of Android, in a statement.
The reading (ebooks) and music on demand services will also see their commissions go down to 10%.
The overwhelming majority of smartphones in the world run on the operating systems of Google and Apple, Android and iOS.
The two US giants regularly argue that the commissions, paid by a minority of paid apps, are used to ensure that their platforms work properly, from the protection of private data to the security of payment systems.
But many publishers rail against their loss of earnings and the authorities accuse them of abusing a dominant position in their market place.
Apple is particularly targeted by these critics, because the App Store, its application store, is essential. On Android, developers can offer their apps for download elsewhere than on the Google Play Store.
The Apple brand has made several concessions in recent months, such as dropping its commission from 30% to 15% for apps that earn less than a million dollars a year.
Apple and Google are both accused of monopoly practices by video game publisher Epic Games.
In September, a US judge ordered Apple to loosen its grip on payment methods within applications, while declaring that the maker of the iPhone does not have a monopoly.
The developer and the electronics giant have both appealed.
The lawsuit between Google and Epic is still not scheduled.