Google defends position ahead of Epic trial in Federal Court
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The news: Search giant Google has defended its stance in charging fees from third party developers hosted on its Google Play app store, ahead of a court fight against Fortnite maker Epic Games in Australia.
The numbers: Google said there are over 29,000 apps from approximately 12,200 Australia-based developers on Google Play. It estimated these developers earned around $2.4 billion with the help of Android’s global reach in 2023.
The context: The tech giant said its Android operating system had made it easier for Australian developers to build a single app and distribute it across devices and app stores on the platform, making it less expensive for Australian entrepreneurs to launch digital businesses and find a global audience.
It said the service fee charged when a developer sells in-app digital goods or services on Google Play were used to part fund investments in the app store and in Android. It also warned that Epic Games demanded to water down or eliminate user notifications which could strip away critical security and privacy protection for consumers.
Epic Games had brought the case, alleging Google had a dominant position for apps on Android mobile devices and was squeezing third party developers for excess fees of up to 30% to host applications on the Play app store. The tech giant late last year lost a similar antitrust case brought by the Fortnite maker in a US court.
The source: Google
