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| South Korea and Australia threaten Google and Apple |
The App Store is a major source of income for both Apple and Google. This is because they get a large percentage of paid app sales and in-app payments.
This percentage often reaches 30%, which negatively affects developers. When Epic Games added direct credit card payments to Fortnite, they largely rejected that percentage.
Then Apple removed the game, Google followed suit, and Epic Games began suing Apple. The problem still exists.
Apple and Google monopoly in the App Store
This problem has led the public to refer to the monopoly of app stores on the one hand and the monopoly of payment methods on the other.
In fact, Apple has banned an alternative app store to the App Store, while Google has started developing a new AAB app format that makes apps highly dependent on the Play Store.
Countries around the world objected, US developers started filing lawsuits, and Australia also started taking steps to reduce this monopoly.
On the other hand, some countries in the Asia Pacific region have also started attacking Google directly, especially South Korea. payments. and games.
South Korea and Australia
South Korean lawmakers have begun debating a telecommunications trade law that could ban app stores that rely on certain payment methods, which would have a negative impact on competition. Violation of the law will cost the company 3% of its annual revenue and result in a fine of up to $275,000.
The law was supposed to go to Parliament on Monday, but it was suddenly postponed.
If the law is approved, app developers can choose the appropriate payment method and integrate it into the app without having to resort to Google and Apple payment methods.
South Korea is not the only country taking such steps, and Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (Josh Frydenberg) has also begun to advocate for new laws and laws governing electronic payments.
Apple is mostly surrounded by app developers and other companies negatively affected by its monopoly on a variety of platforms and services, as well as the outrage and criticism of Google. Perhaps the actions of South Korea and Australia will prompt other countries to pay attention to this global problem, perhaps primarily in relation to European countries.
Google also generated up to $5.2 billion in sales in the Korean market. Apple generated $2 billion in sales in the same market in 2019, and with the US ban, those numbers are sure to rise in 2020.
Therefore, US companies are expected to be subject to such laws. However, this usually does not happen easily. He also noted that there are more than 482,000 app developers registered with Apple in South Korea.