Computer - App store settlement: Google wants to pay 700 million dollars
Google is prepared to pay 700 million dollars and make changes to its Android app store in the USA to settle a lawsuit filed by dozens of states. This is the result of a settlement reached in September, the details of which were published on Tuesday night.
The states accused Google of taking too much money from users by imposing a mandatory fee of up to 30 percent on the purchase of apps and digital content. Although the app providers pay the fee, they usually pass the costs on to the buyers.
Google wants to contribute 630 million dollars (575 million euros) to a fund for payments to US consumers. This is unlikely to result in much money for each individual. According to calculations by the federal states, around 102 million users in the USA are entitled to such a payment. They assume that 70 percent will make direct use of it electronically. Google intends to make a further 70 million dollars available to the states for their payments.
As part of the settlement, Google also announced that the US app store will offer alternative payment methods for the purchase of apps and digital content in addition to its own billing system in more cases than before. Last week, the company lost a case concerning its app store system in the first instance. Following a lawsuit by games developer Epic Games, a jury in San Francisco came to the conclusion that Google had secured a monopoly in the apps business on the Android smartphone platform through unfair competition.
The consequences of the Epic trial are still unclear: Google intends to appeal and the judge will have to decide next year what obligations the company will have to meet as a result of the jury's decision.
Google blog entry Federal court document on the settlement
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Source: www.stern.de
