On September 12, Google’s antitrust trial began. In the first case of this nature filed against a Big Tech company in the last 20 years, the Washington Court had to determine whether Google is considered a monopoly on online searches.

This class action lawsuit from 30 states of the United States and representing 21 million consumers was settled several months ago, but the terms of the settlement have not been made public until now.

Google announced to the public the terms that will be changed in the Google Play Store. In addition, it will have to pay $630 million to the settlement fund, which will be distributed among affected developers, as well as $70 million to the state fund.

On December 12, we learned about the decision of the case between Google and Epic Games. The judge found that the Google Play Store was a monopoly and that the company engaged in anti-competitive practices. Today we know some of the consequences of this decision.

• Google “will continue to allow Android to install third-party apps on mobile devices through means other than Google Play” for 7 years
• For 5 years, Google will allow developers to offer an alternative in-app billing system alongside Google Play (“User Choice Billing”).
• Google will not ensure developers offer the best prices to customers who choose Google Play and Google Play Billing for 5 years
• Google won’t stop OEMs from granting installation rights to pre-installed apps for 4 years
• For 5 years Google will not ask for your “permission” for an OEM to pre-install a third-party app store
• For 5 years, Google will allow participating User Choice Billing developers to notify their users of better rates elsewhere and “complete transactions using the developer’s existing web-based billing solution in an integrated web view within their app.”

These are just some of the changes Google will have to make over the next few years; It determined that developers have the right to show users better prices for their apps and subscriptions outside the Play Store and allow downloads from alternative stores. .

Image: Xataka Android

Another interesting point of the agreement is about how Google warns us about installing external APKs. They will need to “simplify the process and update the language used to inform users about the risks of downloading apps directly from the web for the first time.” This means that the banner that appears every time we try to install an external APK needs to be toned down.

Google announced to the public the terms that will be changed in the Google Play Store. In addition, it will have to pay $630 million to the settlement fund, which will be distributed among affected developers, as well as $70 million to the state fund.

These measures are just the beginning of the changes coming to the Play Store. The agreement “only” refers to the Google v. US case, but the terms of the agreement between Epic and Google have not yet been resolved after Google lost the monopoly case.

Image | Xataka

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