Google announces third-party 'in app' billing pilot in India, some other markets
Google on Friday announced that third-party 'in app' billing system pilot will be extended to India and some other markets, allowing non-gaming developers to offer users the choice of an alternative billing mechanism alongside that of Google Play.
A reasonable service fees will continue to apply in order to support investments in Android and Play, according to Google. However, specifics of what the reasonable service fees will be, have not been disclosed.
Users will still have the choice to use Google Play's billing system.
"With this next phase of Google Play's user choice billing pilot, all non-gaming developers can offer an additional billing choice alongside Play's billing system for their users in Australia, Japan, India, Indonesia, and the European Economic Area," a Google spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added: "We will be sharing more in the coming months as we continue to build and iterate with our pilot partners."
With this, all non-gaming developers globally can sign up to participate in the pilot and offer this choice to their mobile and tablet users in these select markets.
The move comes amid discontent among developers as well as increasing global scrutiny of app stores norms, and the way commissions are structured by big app stores.
Put simply, user choice billing refers to the ability for developers to offer an alternative in-app billing system alongside Google Play's. At checkout, users are able to choose which billing system to use.
In-app purchases are additional content, features, or subscriptions that users buy within a particular app. The Google Play Billing policy has always required developers to use Google Play's billing system for in-app purchases of digital goods.
Earlier this year, Google announced
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