U.S. Court Pulls Out Of 'Open' On Google Play..."Allow external payments"

A U.S. court order called for Google to overhaul its mobile app business to provide more options for Android users.

A federal court in San Francisco, California, ordered Google on the 8th local time to provide more options for Android users to download apps and pay within them.

The order comes after a jury unanimously ruled in favor of Epic Games in December last year in an antitrust lawsuit filed by popular game Fortnite producer Epic Games against Google in 2020.

Google claims that "Apple and Google Android are clearly in a competitive relationship" and plans to appeal the first trial ruling along with a provisional injunction against the order.

If confirmed, the order will take effect next month, apply only in the United States and remain in effect for three years.

Epic Games sued Google for not allowing developers to install their own app stores on Android but only using Google's in-app payment system, calling it an "anti-competitive act of abusing its market dominance."

The jury judged that Google "illegally monopolized the Play App Store and payment service, and Epic Games suffered damage."

A federal court ordered users to open Google App Store "Play" to compete with other apps on Android operating systems such as mobile phones and tablets.

The court ordered the provision of third-party app stores within Google's "Play" and allowing users to download and use third-party app stores as well, especially allowing users to use other methods other than Google in-app payments, which charge up to 30% fees when paying on the app.

It also banned certain app developers from releasing apps exclusively or first on "Play" and prohibited certain device manufacturers from sharing profits after installing Google's "Play" as standard.

If the order is finalized, it is expected to inevitably hurt Google's profitability.

Google made $14.6 billion in revenue in 2020 through the 'Play' app store.