Exclusive: Google Leans on Developers to Use Payment Service
Developers say the Internet search giant is trying to simplify consumer payments, hoping apps-buying will rise and offset their higher costs. Google’s payment service charges a higher cut per transaction than some rivals’. But the move also suggests Google is using its powerful position in the mobile apps market to promote an in-house offering.
Just some gentle prodding from Google.
Android Market, or Google Play as it is now known, is the company’s answer to Apple’s apps store, where consumers browse and buy or download everything from games and music to individual software or applications. Google wants Google Wallet to be the dominant way that people pay for anything on this platform.
In one email sent to a developer in late August, Google said the developer had 30 days to comply, otherwise the developer’s apps would be “suspended” from Android Market. Reuters obtained a copy of the email this week.
“They told people that if they used other payment services they would be breaking the terms of use,” said Si Shen, founder and chief executive of Papaya, a social gaming network on Android. “Whether it’s right or wrong, we have to follow the rules.”
I remember the days when Google was complaining about Apple’s ‘closed ecosystem’ and praising the openness of Android. My, how times have changed.