Alphabet’s Google on Wednesday stated it might enable Spotify to make use of its personal fee system in its Android app as a part of a brand new pilot geared toward countering appmakers’ considerations about excessive charges and allegedly anticompetitive behaviour.

Users who’ve downloaded Spotify from the Google Play Store will likely be introduced with a option to pay with both Spotify’s fee system or with Google Play Billing in some international locations within the coming months.

The pilot will enable a small variety of collaborating builders, beginning with Spotify, to supply an extra billing possibility subsequent to Google Play’s billing system of their apps.

“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,” Google stated in a blog post.

Under a brand new competitors legislation in South Korea final 12 months, Google additionally stated it might enable builders to introduce a second fee system alongside its personal there.

Spotify stated its trial with Google was a part of a “multi-year agreement,” with out elaborating.

App builders equivalent to Spotify that promote digital items have complained for years about having to make use of the official fee programs of the Play retailer and Apple’s App Store.

Google and Apple gather as much as 30 p.c of every fee as a charge, which builders say is just too excessive. Both have lowered charges in lots of circumstances and have stated that they’re wanted to fund a protected and safe cell ecosystem.

Google didn’t specify the charge that it might gather within the new pilot.

The firm is ramping up enforcement of its Google Play Billing requirement, and it has stated non-compliant apps might be blocked from publishing updates beginning on Friday.

© Thomson Reuters 2022