{"id":8779,"date":"2021-11-04T15:39:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T15:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1372142"},"modified":"2021-11-04T15:39:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T15:39:37","slug":"google-bends-the-knee-to-south-korea-allows-third-party-in-app-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=8779","title":{"rendered":"Google bends the knee to South Korea, allows third-party in-app payments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Naturally, our beloved tech giants Google and Apple want you to exclusively use their own billing systems for in-app purchases on mobiles and tablets.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, they have been facing global scrutiny for forcing developers to user their payment systems and charging them with an up to 30% commission. Governments around the world have been seeking to curb their control, but to no avail.<\/p>\n<p>Until now.<\/p>\n<h3>South Korea\u2019s \u201canti-Google\u201d law has\u2026 worked!<\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps you remember that in August South Korea passed a <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/south-korea-law-google-apple-payment-analysis\">new bill<\/a>, dubbed also as the \u201canti-Google\u201d law, banning big app store operators like Google and Apple from forcing developers to exclusively use their payments systems.<\/p>\n<p><span>The law went into effect in mid-September and if any app store operator fails to comply they\u2019ll have to pay 3% of their South Korean revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019d expect that Google would\u2019t easily give in and go without a fight, the unexpected has happened.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Google announced through a <a href=\"https:\/\/developers-kr.googleblog.com\/2021\/11\/enabling-alternative-billing-in-korea-en.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">blog post<\/a> that it would comply with the South Korean law and <span>allow <em>third-party<\/em> payment options for in-app purchases.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s the first time Google has ever amended its privacy policy for a specific country. I repeat: THE FIRST TIME EVER.<\/p>\n<h3>How does it work?<\/h3>\n<p>The announcement says:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"11\">\n<p><span>In response to the recent legislation, developers will now be able to add an alternative in-app billing system, alongside Google Play\u2019s billing system, for their mobile and tablet users in South Korea. At checkout, users will be able to choose which billing system to use.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1372161 js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google-.png\" alt=\"Google allows third-party payments for in-app purchases in South Korea.\" width=\"238\" height=\"325\" sizes=\"(max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google-.png 1172w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--154x210.png 154w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--99x135.png 99w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--198x270.png 198w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--1125x1536.png 1125w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--796x1087.png 796w\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/google-bends-knee-south-korea-allows-third-party-in-app-payments#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fplugged%2F2021%2F11%2F04%2Fgoogle-bends-knee-south-korea-allows-third-party-in-app-payments%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Credit: Google\" data-title=\"Share Credit: Google on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Credit: Google on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"><\/i><\/a>Credit: Google<\/figcaption><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1372161\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google-.png\" alt=\"Google allows third-party payments for in-app purchases in South Korea.\" width=\"238\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google-.png 1172w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--154x210.png 154w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--99x135.png 99w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--198x270.png 198w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--1125x1536.png 1125w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/11\/google--796x1087.png 796w\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>And there\u2019s more. <span>Google, which charges developers a 15% service fee for distributing apps, said it would reduce this to 11% when users choose an alternative billing system. Because the company <em>recognizes&nbsp;<\/em>that developers will incur costs to support their own billing system.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>To curb your enthusiasm a little, Google added that alternative billing systems \u201c<span>may not offer the same protections or payment options and features of Google Play\u2019s billing system \u2014 such as <\/span><span>parental controls<\/span><span>, <\/span><span>family payment methods<\/span><span>, <\/span><span>subscription management<\/span><span>, Google Play gift cards, and <\/span><span>Play Points<\/span><span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Because of course nothing compares to Google\u2019s own products. And it might give South Koreans another choice, but it certainly wishes they won\u2019t use it.<\/p>\n<h3>Is Apple next?<\/h3>\n<p>That\u2019s still unclear and for now Apple hasn\u2019t made any changes in response to the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/google-allows-alternate-in-app-payment-options-in-south-korea-though-familiar-fees-remain-11636021788?mod=e2tw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>, Apple has told the authorities that it\u2019s current policies are in line with the law. The WSJ notes that the company might be able to maneuver a bit.<\/p>\n<p>The bill doesn\u2019t directly regulate commissions, but rather states that apps may not be forced to choose a specific payment option on account of \u201cunreasonable fees.\u201d Apple could potentially argue that its fees aren\u2019t unreasonable, although that\u2019s up to the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) to decide.<\/p>\n<p>But whatever happens with Apple, Google\u2019s compliance is definitely an instance to remember. So mark this day, people! Telling Google \u201cno\u201d actually works. Who knew\u2026<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/google-bends-knee-south-korea-allows-third-party-in-app-payments\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Naturally, our beloved tech giants Google and Apple want you to exclusively use their own billing systems for in-app purchases on mobiles and tablets. For that reason, they have been facing global&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}