Google said it would allow Spotify to use its own payment system in its Android app as part of a new pilot aim at countering appmakers’ concerns about high fees and allegedly anticompetitive behaviour.
Users who have download Spotify from the Google Play Store will be present with a choice to pay with either Spotify’s payment system or with Google Play Billing in some countries in the coming months.
The pilot will allow a small number of participating developers, starting with Spotify, to offer an additional billing option next to Google Play’s billing system in their apps.
Google Said in a blog post.
“This pilot will help us to increase our understanding of whether and how user choice billing works for users in different countries and for developers of different sizes and categories,”.
Under a new competition law in South Korea last year, Google also said it would allow developers to introduce a second payment system alongside its own there.
Spotify said its trial with Google was part of a “multi-year agreement,” without elaborating.
App developers such as Spotify that sell digital goods have complaine for years about having to use the official payment systems of the Play store and Apple’s App Store.
Google and Apple collect up to 30% of each payment as a fee, which developers say is too high.
Both have lower fees in many circumstances and have said that they are need to fund a safe and secure mobile ecosystem.
Google did not specify the fee that it would collect in the new pilot.
The company is ramping up enforcement of its Google Play Billing requirement, and it has said non-compliant apps could be block from publishing updates.
