With Spotify, Google will test the opening of its in-app payment system

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At last ! Google and Spotify announced on March 23 an agreement on the Play Store’s in-app payment system. The streaming service will be able to offer its own system alongside that of Google. A test for the moment limited by the American giant which could extend thereafter.

Google positions itself as a precursor, but does too much

In the blog post published for the agreement, Sameer Samat, vice president of Google, welcomed this pilot project which ” will allow a small number of participating developers to offer an additional billing option alongside Google Play’s billing system “.

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Google believes this is an important first step. The giant boasts of being the first to have embarked on this path, ” whether on mobiles, desktops or game consoles “. Sameer Samat did not hesitate to show off ” Android has always been about openness and choice for users “.

And yet. For a long time, Google’s Play Store, like Apple’s App Store, prohibited third-party payment systems in applications on their platforms. Adding a link to an external site to make a payment was also prohibited for developers. It is not the generosity of Google that is displayed, but a company that has been pushed into the wall by regulatory authorities and legislators around the world.

Apple and Google have always claimed that this system is simply a security and privacy measure for users. Google repeated it in its text. It was also a good way to collect 15% to 30% commission on all user spending on the apps.

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This way of doing things was perceived as an abuse of the dominant position of the two giants who share the market by the developers. It has resulted in a host of proceedings, such as the iconic Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit. Cupertino was also forced to open up piecemeal under pressure from antitrust authorities in the Netherlands and Japan.

This massive reaction, Sameer Samat evokes with a certain talent for understatement: “ Recently, a discussion has emerged around the choice of billing in app stores “. Those ” discussions “, Sameer Samat even claims to be delighted.

There is reason to doubt it. Would Google really have changed its policy without these pressures? There is reason to doubt it: experimentation with Spotify is portrayed as the ” extension of a system established in South Korea. The company forgets to mention that Korea will pass a law prohibiting the closure of in-app payments by platforms in 2021.

In Europe, the forthcoming adoption of the Digital Markets Act should contribute to the selection of countries where Google will ” explore user-choice billing “. The US Congress is also discussing proposed legislation to mandate the opening of the App Store and Play Store.

Spotify, a symbolic partnership

Google’s choice of Spotify to lead this ” experimentation is far from trivial. The Swedish company has been at the forefront of this fight against platform abuse, as explained by its own communicated“ Spotify has publicly advocated for platform fairness and expanded payment options “.

In 2019, she filed a complaint with the European Commission against Apple for abuse of a dominant position. Daniel Ek, the leader of the streaming platform, predicted on Twitter that the agreement with Google will be ” the basis of what the next generation platform should look like “.

For the moment, the contours of the compromise remain obscure. The amount of a possible commission from Google on payments via the Spotify system has not been disclosed. Spotify explained that it is working with the Play Store owner to roll out its alternative offering. in all countries of the world “, in the course of the year.

Google has promised to provide more details about its ” pilot project ” In the coming months. An opportunity, perhaps, to promise its extension to other countries, at random, of the European Union…

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