Google to Open App Payment Options in UK After Watchdog Probe
- Android’s Play Store defaults to using Google’s billing system
- Competition authorities have raised monopoly concerns
Google’s Play Store accounts for more than 90% of all app downloads on Android devices in the UK.
Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg
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Alphabet Inc.’s Google has offered to give Android app makers a choice of billing systems in the UK, the country’s competition regulator said.
“By breaking the link between app developers’ access to Google Play and Google’s payment system, the commitments could allow Google Play users to access new special offers and in-app deals that are not permitted under current Google Play rules,” the Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement on Wednesday.